


Just Another Hero

by marinatyrell



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers Tower, Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Canon Divergence - Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Domestic Avengers, F/M, Found Family, Friends to Lovers, Original Character(s), Original Female Superhero Character - Freeform, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Pre-Spider-Man: Homecoming, Spider-Man: Far From Home (Movie), Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-01-07
Packaged: 2021-03-13 01:28:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 63,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28520163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marinatyrell/pseuds/marinatyrell
Summary: Marvel Cinematic Universe AU centered around the life of Maisie McCall, a girl with superpowers of teleportation and a dream of doing something more. In the world of the Avengers, there's never a shortage of crime... or superheroes. She discovers quickly that she isn't the only teenager in New York City with a penchant for mischief and stopping crime.Her life was changed forever when she gained her powers, but nothing could prepare her for a boy named Peter Parker.CA:CW and onward. Until death do we part.
Relationships: Peter Parker/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 21





	1. Every Superhero Needs a Tragic Backstory

Prologue

******

On May 4th, 2012, aliens invaded New York.

Before that, only a select number of SHIELD agents were tasked to an special energy source pulled from the ocean several years ago by Howard Stark, including Dr. Jennifer McCall.

When Maisie was really little, her mom would sometimes bring her into her work. Her father and mother would argue about who had to take her; she'd been kicked out of several child care services, and this was her last option. Her mother didn't want to leave her with a nanny, so she got to stay in the office and watch her mom work on the pretty blue cube.

As she grew up, the pretty blue cube was given a name: the Tesseract.

Dr. Jennifer McCall, Maisie's mom, climbed the career ladder from a small town in Missouri and found her way onto SHIELD's radar, eventually becoming one of the leading astrophysicists in the world before being assigned to the Tesseract's case. In the move to SHIELD's research facility, she met Maisie's father, Jonathan McCall. They married within the year.

Despite the Tesseract being of utmost secrecy, Maisie was brought to work by her mother most days. Maisie wasn't one to pay attention in her school class most of the time, and she caused more problems than her teachers cared to deal with. So, she learned the basic concepts of mathematics and physics before she was in third grade alongside some of the most brilliant minds in the world. Maisie always felt at home in the lab alongside her mother, solving whatever problem thrown her way and feeling a rush of pride when she would smile in approval at the girl's work.

Currently, her mother was working on some sort of device that would be used to distribute energy from the Tesseract and utilize it in other types of machines, or even buildings. Maisie was mesmerized by the technology. Apparently, clean energy was the next big thing, and Stark Industries wasn't the only player in the game. Granted, this was only a prototype and one that fit into the palm of Dr. McCall's hand.

"Mom?" an eleven year old Maisie asked. "Is it time for dinner yet? I'm starving."

"Soon, I'm finishing up here," she looked to her daughter from her conversation with another scientist. Noticing the impatient look on Maisie's face, she sighed, handing her the device she was working on, "Here, could my favorite assistant go put this on my desk for me?"

Maisie smiled and nodded, taking the purple prototype device from her mother and returning to her lab station. She smiled at its glow; purple was her favorite color.

Jennifer had been giving her little lessons during their time together at the lab, and Maisie ate them up. Science had always been her favorite subject. She loved helping her mom out, and she was usually her little lab assistant to do the little tasks.

A strange noise interrupted her thinking, and Maisie lifted her head from the small purple device in her hands. She scanned the room with inquisitive eyes, trying to locate the source of the noise. Her gaze landed on the far end of the room where the Tesseract glowed with bright blue energy.

"Mom?" Maisie asked again, watching the cube.

"Just a minute, Maisie," her mother replied, turning to speak with another scientist Maisie remembered being Dr. Selvig.

The sound came again, and Maisie wondered if she was the only one to hear it. It sounded like lightning or static electricity zapping something that she couldn't see. She knew she shouldn't go near it; she was always told to stay far away from the Tesseract, but she ignored the thought and went to investigate anyway. After all, that's what true scientists did.

The girl snuck closer, looking over her shoulder at her mom. Dr. McCall was working, speaking avidly with Dr. Selvig. Maisie turned around and walked within arms length of the Tesseract before she finally stopped.

Electricity crackled, and Maisie's eyes filled with wonder as the Tesseract glowed even brighter than before. It took her a moment to realize that she was only a few inches away from it, reaching out with her hand toward the cube. Her eyes moved to the small device in her hands, and she saw the purple start to glow brighter, too. Maisie furrowed her brows in concentration, and she switched the purple device from her other hand, reaching out with it toward the Tesseract. The crackling noise got louder.

Finally, someone noticed her, "Maisie!" her mother exclaimed in horror.

She wasn't close enough to reach her daughter when suddenly, the Tesseract exploded open with blue energy shooting outward. Maisie didn't have time to react as some of the energy collided with the device in her hands, and she felt the energy travel up her arm and into her body. The purple device in her hands heated to her touch, and the purple glow burned brighter before dying out completely.

"MAISIE!" Jennifer yelled, rushing to her daughter's side.

When Jennifer checked for a pulse, she breathed a sigh of relief as she found a faint one. Maisie was unresponsive, and the woman shook her daughter in an attempt to wake her up. The rest of the scientists were staring in awe at the Tesseract. In all their time working on it, it hadn't acted like this. Someone got on the phone with the director, but Jennifer couldn't be bothered to pay attention.

Jennifer glanced down at the small device still clutched in Maisie's small hand. The purple glow had dissipated, and the device was smoking.

"Dr. McCall," Erik Selvig crouched next to the woman, "is she alright?"

"I-I don't know..." Jennifer turned to the other scientists. "Someone c-call for an ambulance or a doctor, something!"

"Talk to me, doctor," Director Nick Fury entered the room, all business. He glanced at the Tesseract which still shuddered with unlimited energy, static electricity sounding throughout the room, and looked at Dr. Selvig.

The man sighed and stood up to discuss the cube's misbehavior.

"You're going to be okay, Maisie, I promise," tears were leaking out of Jennifer's eyes. "I promise."

Suddenly, Maisie's eyes shot open, and her hands clamped down on her mother's arm, squeezing with an unnatural amount of strength. When Jennifer looked into her daughter's eyes, all she saw was a purple glow, sizzling with pure energy.

Jennifer jumped back in horror as Maisie choked out, "Mom, what's happening?"

Before she could respond, Maisie collapsed again, arms limp by her side. The woman stared in terror at her daughter's unconscious body.

The sound of a fellow scientist's voice brought her back to reality, "Doctor, it's spiking again!"

Jennifer glanced around; in the chaos, no one noticed Maisie's episode. Dr. Selvig left Fury's side and rushed over to the computer where a quick-thinking intern already managed to record the behavior of the cube.

Then, the Tesseract repeated itself. Its blue energy burned brighter and bigger than before, heating the room's temperature by at least fifteen degrees. Jennifer held up a hand to lessen the effects of the light on her eyes. The tears streaming down her face clouded her vision, and when she finally managed to focus on the scene in front of her, she couldn't believe it.

A man with long dark hair and a mischievous smirk stared back, holding a golden scepter with a glowing blue center.

"Sir, please put down the spear," Nick Fury ordered, not seeming too nervous, but when was he ever?

The man regarded Fury for a moment, then pulled back and aimed, shooting a burst of blue energy from his spear. Jennifer dove to the ground beside Maisie in an attempt to protect her even though she feared she was already gone. More tears escaped her eyes, but she was desperate to save her daughter. She heard fighting, and several gunshots sounded throughout the room. The woman pushed her daughter's body underneath a lab table where the girl remained unconscious and out of sight. A feeling of relief that she was hidden filled her heart as she stood up, moving away to distance herself from the lab table and keep attention away from her daughter's vulnerable body.

She only made it a few small steps before a throwing knife hit her in the chest, burying itself in her heart. Jennifer collapsed, gasping for breath, but her killer already moved on, pointing his spear at Clint Barton's chest. With her last breath, she managed to lay her eyes on her daughter, untouched and unharmed underneath the lab table. _Please let her be safe,_ she pleaded. _Let her be okay. She's gotta be okay..._

And Jennifer McCall took her last breath.

******

Maisie awoke to the sound of pulsing energy coming from every direction. Her eyes shot open, and all she could see was purple. Slowly, her vision returned to normal, but she was no less confused.

All around her laid the bodies of SHIELD agents. She looked around, starting to cry as she tried to find anyone that could tell her what to do. Her heartbeat quickened as her eyes landed on a familiar face.

"Mom?" she whimpered, crawling over to her.

Her mother didn't respond.

Maisie looked down and saw her mother's eyes staring unfocused at the ceiling above her.

"Mama!" Maisie burst into tears, feeling the grief wrack her body at the sight of her mother. "No! Come back!"

Maisie threw herself over her mom's body, hugging her to her chest. She felt something wet seep into her shirt, and she pulled back to see her mother's blood covering her shirt. Maisie's hands started to shake, overcome with shock.

A booming sound startled her so much that she jumped in surprise, landing on her butt a foot away from her mother's body. Maisie looked up, and she froze.

The ceiling was covered by what must've been the remains of whatever the Tesseract did to her. It pulsed with unlimited energy, letting off zaps of lightning randomly throughout the room. At the sight, Maisie decided that if she wanted to live, she had to get out. Looking down at her mother, she hesitated, tears clouding her vision. Did she even want to get out?

One of the lightning strikes hit a light fixture, causing it to spark and fall from the ceiling. It landed mere feet from Maisie, and she felt a piece of stray metal ricochet into her arm. The girl's tears never stopped, but now, she was angry. Angry at the ceiling for not giving her time to grieve her mother. Angry at her mother for dying. Angry at herself for touching the Tesseract when she should've been listening to what her mother told her.

Maisie lurched forward, taking Jennifer by the arm and pulling her toward the door, "Come on!"

The young girl didn't move very far, and her mother's extra weight only slowed her down.

"I'm not leaving without you!" Maisie cried; she was sobbing now. "Mama, let's go!"

She moved a couple more feet, but glancing up at the ceiling, Maisie knew she'd never make it out in time. She was done. The girl collapsed on the ground, punching at the hard concrete with her fists. One of them started to hurt, and she thought it might bruise, but it wouldn't matter in only a few moments. Maisie turned onto her back and stared at the blue ceiling. Tears leaked out of her eyes as she heard the pulsing energy come to a complete stop, and she knew it was over.

 _Anywhere but here_ , Maisie wished, squeezing her eyes shut and gripping her mother's cold hand. _Please, get me anywhere but here._

******

When Maisie opened her eyes, she was staring up at a starry sky, still holding her mother's hand. She sat up and looked around. The sound of destruction filled her ears, and she watched in horror as the SHIELD facility imploded.

And she was sitting atop a grassy hill over a mile away.

******

FOUR YEARS LATER

Maisie closed the trunk of the car and picked up the one of the last boxes full of her father's stuff, turning to look at her new apartment building. Her father approached her, frowning at the remaining boxes in the car.

"Margaret, hurry up, we don't have all day," Maisie's father instructed, taking the box from her hands and moving toward the entrance to the building. "You finish this, I've got some work left to do."

Maisie fought the urge to roll her eyes, replying long after he left, "Yeah, okay."

Once her father was gone, Maisie scanned the streets for any prying eyes. Then, she picked up a box and teleported into her room inside the building, ensuring her door was locked so her father wouldn't see. She dropped the box on the ground and popped back down to the car for the last two boxes. She smirked as her job was finished within a minute, and after locking the car, she settled into her bed with her laptop.

After Maisie's mom died, Maisie was heartbroken. Her mom was her best friend, and she couldn't help but wonder if she hadn't been so stupid to try to touch the Tesseract or woken up to teleport the two of them out before Loki could even see them, that her mom would still be here.

As it turned out, scientific experiments on things not a part of this world tended to have superhuman results.

At first, Maisie didn't know how she got herself and her mom's body out of SHIELD before it collapsed, thinking it was some miracle or act of God. The grief overtook any sense for the situation she had. She was found by the authorities asleep, holding her mom's hand and shivering in the cold. She thought that was the end of all the supernatural crap in her life until one day when she accidentally teleported all the way to Midtown Manhattan from her soccer practice in Boston. She couldn't figure out how to get back until in her confusion, she was almost hit by a New York taxi. She ended up laying in her bed. She barely heard the scolding from her father, too busy focusing on the fact that she, eleven year old Maisie, had _superpowers_.

A knock sounded at Maisie's door about an hour later, and the girl took out her headphones, "Yeah?"

Her dad stood in the doorway, "School starts tomorrow at eight. Don't be late, and don't skip class or there'll be consequences."

"Fine, but I'm going to need money for a MetroCard or something," a knowing smirk settled on her face. "I can't just teleport myself to school, you know."

"Obviously, or else you'd never be as late as you always seem to be," her father shot back, taking a hundred dollar bill out of his wallet and tossing it on her desk. "Go to sleep, and I expect you to be on your best behavior tomorrow. This is the best school in Manhattan, and I don't want to hear of another suspension, do you understand?"

Maisie nodded, responding wordlessly, as usual. The man nodded his head once and closed her door on the way out with a resolute click.

She jumped onto her bed and glanced out the window with a sigh, "Midtown School of Science and Technology, here I come."


	2. New Girl

Maisie approached the steps of Midtown School of Science and Technology with slight hesitation. The large black gates that surrounded it reminded her of her old school, and she wrinkled her nose. If she thought hard enough, she could still recall the smell of pretentiousness and teenage angst. But, she mused, looking around, this school was full of nerds. Then again, who was she to judge?

Someone bumped into her and half-apologized as they brushed past her. First awkward interaction of the day was over in less than five seconds, surely everything would be fine from here on out. Maisie took a breath, and she stepped forward.

******

It was easy enough to find her locker, and the secretary had been nice, so Maisie felt the day got off to a pretty good start.

"Ned, dude, I'm sorry, but I can't come over tonight!" a boy said as he walked by. He stopped a few lockers down from her. "May scheduled family time, and you know how she is about that sort of thing."

"Peter, I just bought the new Lego—" Ned, presumably, was interrupted by his friend.

"Sorry, man," the first boy, Peter, shrugged.

Maisie smirked into her locker, putting a few things away as she tried to figure out her first period class. Who knew boys in high school still played with Legos?

"Whoa, who's that?" Ned dropped his voice to whisper.

Maisie stiffened, and she felt two pairs of eyes land on her. With her power to teleport came a whole lot of stuff she wasn't originally ready to deal with, including enhanced strength and speed, increased reflexes, and most irritatingly, super-hearing. Maisie tucked a lock of hair behind her ear as she tried to ignore the words pouring out of Ned's mouth.

"She must be new," Peter replied, curiosity lacing his voice.

"Yeah, obviously," Ned scoffed. "She's too pretty, we would've noticed her by now."

Maisie couldn't help it; she snorted in amusement.

Ned's eyes widened, "Do you think she can hear us? She just laughed!"

Peter's eyes narrowed, but he shook his head, "No, there's no way."

Not about to expose her special powers, Maisie closed her locker and looked down at her schedule, searching for her class. She had first hour physics with Ms. Warren, she noted.

"She's going to physics class, too!" Ned observed, and she heard Peter shush him.

Finally, Maisie sat down in the third row, the seat closest to the door. Only one other student occupied the room, a curly haired brunette with light skin, and she looked up upon Maisie's arrival. Maisie smiled in greeting, and the brunette's serious look faded for a moment to offer a small smile back. Maisie returned to her backpack to take out her supplies for the class, and more students began to file into the room. As she previously heard, the two boys from the hallway, Peter and Ned, joined the class.

Maisie looked up, and she noticed Peter's gaze linger on her for a moment. The two locked eyes, and Peter's eyebrows shot up in surprise and he rushed to sit down in the seat alongside Ned in the second row. Maisie held back a smirk, wondering why she was so amused by the boy.

"Alright, class!" a woman who Maisie assumed was Ms. Warren announced. "Welcome to Honors Physics! I will have a seating chart for you in a moment along with a syllabus that we will use to review class expectations for this year."

Maisie felt a tap on her shoulder, and she paused in confusion before turning around to face a black haired boy who shot her a smirk.

Maisie raised an eyebrow, "Yes?"

"Ms. Warren should put us next to each other," the boy began, a poor attempt at flirting. Maisie frowned. "I bet we'll be seeing a lot of each other from now on, new girl."

"God, I hope not," she frowned, considering the thought for a moment before turning back around with a swift shake of her head, leaving the boy to stare at her back in embarrassment.

A muffled laugh caught Maisie's attention, and she turned her head to the source of the noise. Peter, on the far end of the room, had obviously heard her little conversation with the boy behind her and thought it was funny. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion; how had he heard her from all the way over there? Still, the corners of Maisie's mouth quirked upward in a smile as she focused on Ms. Warren once again.

******

At lunch, Maisie was sick of being alone. Granted, she'd spent most of her life that way, but she'd reached her breaking point. After the accident at SHIELD when her mom died, it became tougher to find someone to relate to with shared life experience.

The girl grabbed her lunch tray and headed toward the large cafeteria, searching for any open seats. A large, empty table immediately caught her eye, and she frowned as she saw the brunette from Physics sitting alone. A bit down the table, she noticed the two boys from earlier sitting by themselves, too. Looking around, she didn't recognize anyone else besides the annoying kid who sat behind her in class.

Sighing, Maisie stepped toward the mostly empty table, focusing on the brunette. The girl didn't necessarily look like she needed company, and Maisie had a feeling she got by on her own pretty well. Still, the blonde took the seat across from her.

"Hey," she greeted, surprising the girl a bit. Before she could object, Maisie took the wrapping off her sandwich and took a bite, getting comfortable.

"Hi," the brunette replied after a moment, looking around as though a whole party of people were going to show up now that Maisie did.

"I'm Maisie," she said, swallowing the bite of sandwich. "Well, technically, my name's Margaret, but if you call me that, you can't be my friend."

The girl's mouth quirked upwards, "I'm Michelle." A beat. "But, my friends call me MJ."

"Nice to meet you, MJ," Maisie replied, tentatively using her nickname.

MJ had a quiet reserve, but not a shy one. She looked sure of herself, and Maisie got the sense that she spent a lot of time mumbling sarcastic comments under her breath.

"So," she began, noticing MJ's hesitation, "what's the deal at this school? Are there any sports, clubs, obnoxious acapella singing groups?"

MJ snorted, "We're not great at sports, but our lacrosse team is alright. No singing groups, though there is choir and band offered as classes. I'm in Academic Decathlon, and we made it to Nationals last year."

Maisie nodded, "Gotcha, well, it's not like I'm a sports girl anyway."

The same two boys from earlier sat down a small distance away from them at the same long table. MJ glanced that way for a moment, and the shorter and thinner one, Peter, gave a short wave. He looked confused to see Maisie sitting with MJ, and she assumed it was because MJ usually kept to herself.

"Who're they?" Maisie found herself asking, nodding at the two boys.

MJ glanced up, following her gaze. Her eyes brightened in amusement, "They're on my Decathlon team, so I guess they're kinda smart, but total losers."

Maisie snorted, wondering what made her say that.

"The bigger one's Ned, he's nice enough, but the other one—"

"Peter, right?" Maisie interrupted, a small smirk crossing her face. She didn't notice how the boy stopped chewing his sandwich once she said his name.

"Yeah, he's a huge dork," MJ nodded, popping a grape into her mouth.

Maisie shrugged, "Kinda cute, in a nerdy sort of way."

"Gross," MJ shook her head, grimacing.

Maisie only laughed in response, a happy sound that echoed in Peter's ears. His lips tilted into a small smile, but Ned interrupted his super-eavesdropping to talk about the test they already had that next Friday in algebra.

******

The next period was spent in English, something Maisie enjoyed only about half the time. She and MJ had to split up after lunch because they both had separate classes, and Maisie frowned as she realized she was alone again.

As the students trickled into the class, a few pouted that the teacher created a seating chart. Maisie scanned the front board for her name, finding it nearer the back of the classroom. Maneuvering around the other students trying to find their assignment, Maisie made it to her seat, dropping her backpack next to her desk with a soft thud.

She was preparing her notes for class when someone familiar dropped into the seat next to her. Maisie looked up and found Peter sitting in the desk beside her, looking more anxious than Maisie thought he should be. Maybe she could help with that.

She smiled, leaning over, "Hi, I'm Maisie. I'm new here."

"Yeah, I know," Peter replied, wincing at his own words.

"You're Peter, right?" she continued.

"Yeah, yeah, my name's Peter," he nodded. "Um, how's your first day been so far?"

"It's been alright. Most everyone seems nice enough," Maisie smirked, remembering her first hour. "Except that one kid, was his name 'Flash' or something?"

Peter seemed to relax a bit, laughing, "Seemed like you handled him alright."

"I don't have time for douchebags who peak in high school," Maisie shrugged, giving Peter an approving look, "You seem okay."

"Thanks," Peter smiled. A moment passed, and Peter spoke up once again, "So, where'd you—"

"Alright, listen up, class!" Mr. Harrison announced, moving to the front board to start the lesson and interrupting Peter.

The boy sat back in his seat, facing forward and paying attention to the lecture as Maisie bit back a quiet laugh.

******

At the end of the day, Maisie returned to her locker after exchanging numbers with MJ. They had bonded over their hatred for Snapchat and their reluctant acceptance of digital media. The two were more similar than Maisie initially thought. Her newfound hope for this school had grown to full blown optimism. 

She stared at the inside of her locker, trying to ignore the daunting pile of textbooks she had to bring home. Reaching for her headphones to block out the sound of the city as she made her way home, Maisie felt someone stand next to her.

"So, new girl," Flash began. He looked less cocky than during Physics, but the arrogance on his face was impossible to miss.

"Yikes," Maisie mumbled.

He didn't hear her, "I just figured that since you're new that you're in need of a friend, or, if you're lucky..."

Maisie was mid-way through rolling her eyes when her gaze landed on someone hiding his laughter in his locker a short distance away. Flash didn't seem to notice her disinterest nor her complete disregard of whatever he was saying as she watched Peter look half-concerned and half-amused by Maisie's situation.

"So, anyway, I'm gaining a lot of followers on Instagram, and if you want my Snapchat, it's--"

"Look, Flash, is it?" Maisie cut him off, but didn't wait for him to answer. "I've got to go now, so thanks, but no thanks. I'm good."

"You're... good?" Flash asked, frowning.

"Yep," Maisie shut her locker door, holding three books in one hand.

She gave Flash a simple nod of her head as she walked past him, but he stepped backward to cut her off, "Are you sure, because I--"

"Don't worry, I'm sure," her annoyance with the boy felt a bit unfounded. Teenage boys were ridiculous, sure, but he seemed to want to be her friend, and maybe--

"Fine, I was just trying to be nice," Flash scoffed. "Girls like you aren't worth it anyway."

Not keen on being rejected any longer, Flash pushed past her with more strength than Maisie was expecting. She stumbled, her weight unbalanced. Maisie winced as one of her textbooks fell off of the stack in her hands. As she fell backward, she didn't move to catch herself; Maisie cursed herself that her first instinct was to teleport back onto her feet even though she was in front of a whole hallway full of kids. She was lucky, however, that a hand reached out to grab hers, holding her in place.

Without realizing her eyes were closed, Maisie opened them. Peter stood in front of her, his amusement gone.

"Are you okay?" he asked, frowning past her. Maisie planted her feet firmly on the ground.

Maisie looked at the boy's hand in hers, somehow summoning the strength to keep her from falling.

"Yeah," she let go. "Thanks."

Something about this boy was odd, she decided.

Peter shrugged, "It didn't seem like you needed much help."

Still, he was pretty cool.

Maisie cracked a smile, "I usually don't."

Peter bent down to grab the book that had fallen, "I figured."

"Is that guy always such an ass?" she asked, adding the book to her stack.

"Yeah," Peter sighed. He adjusted his bag around his shoulders, frowning. "He calls me 'Penis Parker.'"

Maisie covered her mouth with her hand, stifling a pitying laugh, "No way."

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll get a nickname soon enough," Peter assured her. The two began to walk down the hallway, "After today, I wouldn't be surprised if most people believe that he's already turned down the new girl."

"I don't really care," Maisie shrugged. It was true, after all. "I made a couple friends today that don't care about Flash, so if I stick with them, I'm sure I'll be just fine."

"Oh, who? MJ?" Peter asked.

"Yeah, she seems pretty cool," Maisie supplied. "And, I was thinking that after you saved me from an embarrassing moment in the hallway that you didn't seem such a bad option for a friend either."

"Really?" Peter asked. They'd reached the school gates now, coming to a stop as they began to part ways.

"I mean, that's entirely up to you," Maisie started to back away, holding her books against her chest. "Unless you'd rather me call you 'Penis Parker.'"

Peter shook his head rapidly in protest, only making Maisie laugh, "Please, no. It's traumatic at this point."

Maisie shook her head, "I'll see you later, Pete."

As far as superheroic missions went, if "First Day of School" counted as one, Maisie figured she'd label it a success.


	3. I Can't Go To Germany

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Captain America: Civil War

Maisie teleported to the top of the building, frowning. She had been trying to stop a runaway car from slamming into a bus filled with civilians, but she was was realizing, a bit too late, that she didn't know how. Her teleportation powers didn't do much for speeding cars or buses full of people, and though she had enhanced speed and strength, she wasn't sure if she could stop a car going fifty miles an hour. She couldn't be much use to anyone smushed against a windshield like an unlucky bug.

Luckily, she wasn't forced to make a snap decision as the famous Spider-Person--or whatever their name was--swung into view. They caught the car with their bare hands, leaving both the driver of the car and the people on the bus unharmed. Even more impressively, Spider-Bug himself was also completely unharmed, and they swung away from the scene.

Maisie was relieved that the citizens were safe, but she couldn't help but feel a little miffed by the experience. Even worse, Spider-Guy definitely saw her watching from afar as they flew away through the air with ease. Maisie shook her head to rid herself of the thought and teleported away from the rooftop.

Okay, fine. Maybe she and this "Spider-Man" could share New York.

Maisie appeared on the sidewalk next to her apartment building. As she glanced around for any prying eyes, a particular headline on a discarded newspaper caught her eye. The girl frowned, picking it up from the top of the nearby garbage can. A scoff escaped her lips as she saw "The Daily Bugle" across the top with the words, "Teleporting Mischief-Maker Vigilante Does It Again!" in big bold letters. The girl smirked at the word "Mischief." It wasn't the first time that J. Jonah Jameson used that particular word to describe her.

She chose to take it as a compliment.

Shaking her head, she threw the paper in the trash and teleported to her room.

******

Maisie came home from her tenth day of school at Midtown School of Science and Technology with a tired look on her face. Her classes were especially elementary today, and although she had MJ to talk with and pass the time, she was thankful to finally be free. As she unlocked the front door, she remembered a chocolate croissant waiting for her in the pantry leftover from breakfast, and she perked up. 

"Dad? You home?" Maisie called. She assumed he had only just gotten back if he were, knowing his work schedule.

"In the living room," her dad replied. His usual tone of dismissal was gone, replaced by something Maisie couldn't quite place.

The girl smiled to herself as she got her hands on the croissant and stepped into the living room, taking a huge bite out of her snack just to almost choke on it a moment later.

Sitting across from her father was Tony Stark. Also known as Iron Man, a superhero, who saves the world.

Maisie tried to catch her breath after her unsuccessful attempt at chewing, "Wh—hello?"

"Ms. McCall," Mr. Stark greeted, a smug smile on his face, "I thought it was about time we met."

Several scenarios were running through her brain. Why the hell was Tony Stark in her apartment? The only logical explanation for it revolved around the fact that every night she left her house in a makeshift superhero costume to fight crime. Her eyes flicked over to her father, oblivious to her nightly endeavors. She was determined to keep it that way.

"You've been getting my emails, haven't you?" Mr. Stark gave her a look saying, 'Go with it!'

Maisie's eyes remained wide, but a skeptical feeling arose in her, "Yes, sir."

"About the grant with the September Foundation," Mr. Stark continued, obviously having thought this cover story up. Fortunately for her, it seemed that he wasn't keen on alerting her father of what he was really doing there. "Well, since you applied, I'm here to tell you that you've been accepted. Yay!"

Maisie plastered on a bright smile, enjoying the look of pride on her father's face, "This is great news!"

Mr. Stark gave her a look like, _"_ _Don't oversell it, kid._ _"_

"So, this September Foundation grant," Maisie's father began, looking more interested in the details. His constant business-like expression never wavering, "is there financial compensation as a part of the award?"

"Yeah, it's pretty well-funded," Mr. Stark responded, never losing his easy smile. "Look who you're talking to."

Maisie snorted, and the two men looked at her in surprise.

"Can I have five minutes with the kid, just to talk about some NDAs and all that?" Mr. Stark asked, gesturing at Maisie.

Maisie's father looked smug, the look of pride at his daughter's achievements only a glimmer in his eye, "Congratulations, Margaret. We'll discuss this later."

Maisie stiffly nodded at her father before awkwardly gesturing for Mr. Stark to follow her to her room down the hall. The girl winced as she realized that it was still pretty messy from the move.

"Sorry, Mr. Stark, we just moved a couple weeks ago, and—" she threw a couple things into a box and pushed it under her bed. The man stepped through the door and closed it, and Maisie frowned, narrowing her eyes at him, "Alright, why are you really here?"

Mr. Stark chuckled, taking off his red-tinted sunglasses, "You're a lot quicker than the other kid. He started swearing that he'd never applied for the grant."

Maisie smirked to herself, putting the question of "the other kid" on hold and turning back to the superhero, "So...?"

Mr. Stark paused again, then pulled out his phone. A couple taps, and a holographic image of a YouTube video popped up. Maisie, covered in a purple athletic jacket, a black bandana, and leggings, jumped off of a building and teleported in midair, catching a suicidal man and teleporting back down to the ground. The girl's smirk faded.

"This is the second time I've done this today, so how about we skip to the part where you admit this is you, and I tell you why I'm here," Tony raised an eyebrow, looking for the girl to agree.

Maisie took a moment to think, but after staring into the calculating eyes of Tony Stark, she knew there would be nothing she could say to convince him otherwise.

"Alright, fine," she stared back, unwavering. "That's me."

"The powers, how'd you get them?" he asked, and Maisie figured it was more curiosity than anything else. She looked away from the older man, and took a seat on the edge of her desk.

"When I was eleven, a blue cube spazzed out and electrocuted me. I didn't learn until later that it was called the Tesseract, and it was the thing that let Loki and those aliens destroy New York," Maisie paused, frowning. "My mom worked on it... for SHIELD. She was an astrophysicist, but when Loki came through, he killed her. I only escaped because I was unconscious and Loki thought I was dead."

Mr. Stark's eyes widened, "You survived SHIELD caving in?"

Maisie shook her head, "You saw what I can do. I woke up just in time to vanish before the ceiling could hit me. I blinked, and I was safely outside. My dad and the police found me shivering underneath a wrecked car the next morning."

Maisie found herself unintentionally staring at the framed picture of her mom on her nightstand.

Mr. Stark paused before speaking, wanting to give the girl a moment, "So, you chose now to become a superhero? You want to be a hero, put bad guys away, that sort of thing?"

Maisie's eyebrows furrowed, and she answered almost immediately: "It's not about me."

"How?" Mr. Stark continued, prepared for her response.

"With everything that's happened... I could've saved so many people that day in New York," Maisie looked down at her lap, feeling her throat close up. "All those people out there—they might not have someone to save them when you Avengers are off doing bigger and better things. I can be someone for them to rely on when they don't even realize they need it. I mean, what was I supposed to do with superpowers? I can't just sit around while bad things are happening to people who don't deserve it. Not when I have the power to stop it."

Maisie looked up at Mr. Stark, and she was a little confused to see a small, knowing smile etched on his slightly wrinkled face, "You and the other kid will get along just fine."

"What other kid?" Maisie finally asked, confused.

"You ever been to Germany?" Mr. Stark asked, a knowing glint in his eye.

"Once, accidentally," Maisie blinked, remembering her days as a younger superhero. "Why?"

******

The next six hours consisted of rushed packing, digging for a passport (which she was told later she didn't even need), and lots of calming breathing exercises.

Before Mr. Stark left, Maisie's father asked if someone could drive her to the airport for the "internship retreat" in Germany.

"I'm very busy," Maisie's father had said. "I'm sure you understand, Mr. Stark."

Mr. Stark nodded with slightly narrowed eyes as he regarded the man. "That was the plan. Only cleared drivers can pass security to my private plane."

Maisie didn't say anything, she wasn't surprised that her father didn't want to take the time to drop her off anyway.

The apartment door closed, and there was only a moment of silence between the two McCalls before Maisie left as quickly as she could to get all her things together.

From what Mr. Stark told her, Captain America was going rogue. The Sokovia Accords, which had taken the headline of every news network over the past couple weeks, had created a rift between the Avengers, and Cap didn't want to sign. Then, after the bombing of Vienna in Austria, the situation had only escalated. Cap didn't want to let go of his old war buddy regardless of whatever crimes he committed and was siding with him.

At first, the idea of Captain America choosing to fight against his fellow teammates instead of alongside them shocked Maisie. But, the more she thought about it, the more she agreed with some of what he was doing. Why should the Avengers be contained and controlled by the government? The last time that happened, SHIELD turned out to be a bunch of Nazis, and a whole lot of people died. Yeah, she paid attention during history class. Surely, having the power in the hands of the people had to be the best course of action. The Avengers weren't supervillains; they'd saved the world more times than she could count, and now, they were the ones being regulated?

Of course, Maisie didn't say any of this to Mr. Stark.

It was obvious that the man strongly believed that the Accords were a way to ensure that the number of casualties decreased, but Maisie wasn't so sure the government could do much to help with that simply if they had control over what the Avengers did.

Maisie was skeptical of the entire situation, but she did know one thing: Captain America needed to stop defending the douchebag who blew up the UN meeting in Vienna. Assholes who blew people up deserved to pay for their crimes, and Bucky Barnes was no exception.

Another few hours passed, and a car was out front ready to take her to Mr. Stark's private jet. The drive was longer than she expected, but she didn't have much to complain about with the complimentary sparkling water and fine leather seats combined with the fact that she was going to Germany to help subdue Captain America alongside the other Avengers.

The only thing Maisie didn't quite understand was the "other kid" Mr. Stark kept referring to.

******

Maisie sat on the plane for exactly nineteen minutes before an over-excited teenage boy voice echoed through the front cabin. Her eyebrows furrowed. She recognized that particular Golden Retriever energy; but... it couldn't be?

A millisecond passed, and a smiling Peter Parker came into view.

Before Peter could see her, however, Maisie teleported behind the curtain separating the front and back of the plane. Her jaw dropped as she hid behind the curtain; Peter was the other kid? The other fake internship position was for him? What could he possibly do?

"Kid?" a man Maisie didn't know called, confused at the lack of her presence on the plane. "I swear there's supposed to be two of you."

She ran several different scenarios in her head; Peter finding out about her secret identity at this point was basically a given. Apparently, Mr. Stark didn't give any thought to outing her to the boy, so what was she nervous about? He was here for a similar if not the same reason. What could the nice nerdy kid from school possibly do with the knowledge of her secret identity?

A memory flashed before her eyes: a red sweatshirt and black goggles. She realized with a start that she knew exactly why Peter was there. _That's_ why he was able to hear her talk across classrooms and catch her by the hand as she stumbled in the hallway, and it was why Tony Stark of all people came knocking on his door, too. He was enhanced, just like her. He was the Spider-Guy from the streets.

"Tony?" the man asked, and Maisie froze. He continued, "Yeah, the girl's not here." A beat. "What do you mean you had Antonio drop her off?"

In that moment, she made a decision. Maisie teleported back into the main cabin, right in front of Peter and the man on the phone. The two jumped in surprise, and Peter's first reaction was to throw a punch in the girl's direction, which she narrowly ducked to avoid. Peter's fist missed her head, and she sent him a raised eyebrow paired with crossed arms in response.

"Maisie?" Peter's eyes nearly popped out of his head. "What are you doing here?"

Maisie shrugged as though the situation weren't totally baffling to her, too, "Going to Germany. Thought it'd be better than flying coach, you know?"

"You two know each other?" the man asked, pointing between them. His phone was still pressed to his ear, and both kids could hear Mr. Stark's voice through it. "Tony wants to know how you know each other."

"We go to school together," Maisie replied. She was a little surprised Mr. Stark didn't already know that.

"Y-You can teleport?" Peter still hadn't gotten over his shock. It was obvious that she was going to be the calmer one of the two.

"I can read minds, too," she chirped.

Peter's eyes widened in horror, " _What?_ "

"Relax, I'm kidding, but I do know a secret about you," Maisie eyed him for a reaction, finding his usual anxious expression amplified. "You're that red and blue Spider-Dude from the streets."

Peter's jaw clenched as he tried to find a way to convince her that he wasn't, but he remembered where he was standing and knew there would be no chance of her believing him.

"Yeah, I guess I am," he replied, stone-faced. Four months in, and too many people had already figured out his identity. He looked up at her again, defensive, "And it's Spider-Man."

" _Happy, what are they saying? Are they friends yet?_ " Mr. Stark's voice rang through the driver's, Happy's, phone.

"Yeah, boss," Happy replied, sighing as he glanced between the two teens. "Best friends. We're coming to you now."

He hung up, mumbling about actually getting some sleep before more of driving kids around for his dumb boss.

Peter hadn't looked away from Maisie, instead, he was studying her closely, "You're that super-girl who saves people when I'm not there."

"Maybe you're the one saving people when I'm not there," Maisie corrected, giving the boy a smile to let him know that she wouldn't bite. "But, yeah. I may be enhanced, but I can't stop a speeding car from crashing into a bus. That's all you, Spidey."

Peter's mouth twitched into a smile, "Let's not start with things I can't do. I'm pretty sure teleportation wins every single time."

Maisie laughed, nodding, "Yeah, you're right."

She sat down in one of the many lounge seats the Stark Industries jet had, glancing out the window for a moment. They were about to take off, and if there were a pilot on board, they would've told the passengers to buckle up.

Maisie smirked as she watched Peter buckle the seatbelt as tight as it went, foot tapping nervously as he avoided looking out the window at all costs. As the plane took off into the air, Peter's hands gripped the armrests so hard Maisie thought they might break, and she knew Peter was very capable of doing that.

"What?" she joked. "Is it your first time on a private plane?"

"It's my first time on any plane," he replied, an anxious smile crossing his face.

"Well, don't worry," she shrugged in her seat. "If it goes down, I'll teleport us out before we crash."

Peter leaned forward, "How do your powers work anyway?"

Maisie's confident smile faltered, "I don't know."

He looked unconvinced.

"I mean, I came into contact with the Tesseract, but other than that, I have no idea," she sighed, wondering how many times she'd have to tell the story. "My mom worked for SHIELD, and she worked on the that dumb cube before New York happened."

Peter's eyes widened, "Whoa, that's awesome! But, didn't Loki—"

"Kill everyone who worked on the Tesseract and enslave everyone else with his staff of destiny?" Maisie deadpanned. She looked out the window, "Yeah, my mom died that day, too."

Peter's expression darkened. He had a similar experience around the time his powers kicked in.

"My uncle," he didn't look anywhere except his hands. "Just a couple months ago, he was mugged, and they left him shot in the middle of the road."

Maisie nodded, sympathy and bitter understanding in her voice, "I'm so sorry."

"I could've done something," Peter shook his head. "I had my powers at the time, but I was frozen. I hadn't understood what I could do then, but if I had just tried, I could've saved him."

"It's not your fault, Peter," Maisie frowned. "By that logic, it's my fault my mom died. It was my idea to go touch the stupid cube. I had my powers too. I could've teleported my mom and me out of there and left everyone else to deal with Loki."

Peter nodded, taking a breath, "It's not your fault either. I guess we both didn't know what we were doing."

The two were silent for a moment, and Maisie couldn't help but realize that that was the longest conversation she'd ever had with Peter.

"You know, it's a little hard to find anyone with any comprehension of what I'm going through," the corners of Peter's mouth twitched into an ironic smile. "Believe it or not."

Maisie smirked, "We should've started talking much sooner."

They laughed together, covering up their emotional outburst and focusing on the calm plane ride to what was sure to be chaos waiting for them.

******

When Peter and Maisie arrived at the Leipzig airport, they weren't really sure what to do. Mr. Stark gave them instructions to keep their distance until he called for them, but Maisie was more concerned with what to do once he called them besides the obvious strategy of going for Cap's legs. Peter quoted the vine earlier, and Maisie reluctantly agreed it was a good plan.

" _Because his shield is the size of a dinner plate, and he is an idiot!_ " Peter referenced in a horrible German accent.

Maisie shook her head with a smile and got into position. Mr. Stark flew off toward the middle of the airport a short time ago, leaving the two behind a couple of large shipping boxes waiting for instructions. Peter took the time to speak to his little video diary that he insisted on calling a "vlog" and Maisie glanced down at her outfit for the umpteenth time.

The suit that Mr. Stark made was amazing; it fit her perfectly and she was happy to see that she did not have a complete face mask like her spider counterpart. Instead, she had one that covered her mouth and settled comfortably over her nose. Her eyes were left unguarded, and Maisie was thankful that she could use her enhanced sight without anything interfering like her makeshift mask from her vigilante, sweatshirt-wearing days did. When Maisie asked why Peter preferred the full mask, he told her that it was also supposed to help regulate sensory input, something she didn't have to deal with.

"Love the spandex by the way, Spidey," Maisie commented, not entirely joking.

The suit actually did look really good, but it was hard to compliment a guy wearing head-to-toe mock-spandex. She had some of the flexible material, but she was thankful that it wasn't so form-fitting like Peter's getup. The more she admired her suit, the more she recognized that it resembled Black Widow's. She was trying hard to keep her excitement to herself. The more she discovered about hers and Peter's suits, the more she wondered how long Mr. Stark spent making them, and when did he start?

"Whatever," he mumbled, but she could tell he was grinning with pride under the mask. "Your hair clashes with the purple on your suit, anyway."

Maisie snorted, "All the insults, and you go with 'the red streaks in your hair clash with your suit'? That's pathetic."

Peter put his phone down, "Well, it's harder to insult you."

"Thanks, Pete," Maisie chuckled.

"Dude! We said no real people names!" Peter exclaimed, pointing to his ear at the comms system that Mr. Stark set them up with.

Maisie rolled her eyes, "Sorry, what would you like to be called—"

"Captain America!" Peter's voice rose an octave as he interrupted her.

"I think that one's taken—"

"No, Maisie, look," he pointed at something behind her, and the girl turned her head. "Captain freakin' America!"

Maisie's eyes widened, and her heart nearly stopped at the sight of the super soldier. Her eyes then moved to her real role model. Black Widow, known as Natasha Romanoff, stood a few steps away from Mr. Stark, and she felt a weight lift off her shoulders. Maisie was afraid that the woman would be on the opposing side, and she was relieved she wouldn't have to fight against her. Even if she were on the other side, Maisie wasn't sure she could fight her. Another man that she recognized from the recent news as the Black Panther appeared close by Mr. Stark.

After a moment of staring, she shook her head, ridding herself of whatever nerves kept popping up. Then, she frowned at Peter.

"I thought we said no real names," Maisie crossed her arms. "I have a secret identity too, you know."

"Well, what are you called?" Peter crossed his arms, waiting for a reply.

Maisie's mouth opened and closed, realizing she was stuck. New York, mainly Queens, had come up with a couple names for her during her time as a vigilante superhero: Blitz, Stryker, Stargate--but of them all, Mischief was her favorite. She thought it fit her personality quite well. That name also happened to pop up the most in the constant negative articles of her in the Daily Bugle. She figured it'd be almost like a 'Screw You!' to J. Jonah Jameson if she took on that moniker.

She opened her mouth to reply to Peter, but Mr. Stark's voice echoed through the airport.

"Little Red!" Mr. Stark, Iron Man, called. "Underoos!"

The two teen superheroes stared at one another, hearts beating a million miles an hour. Then, Spider-Man flipped in, following his orders.

Maisie, or Mischief, teleported in front of Captain America, ripping his shield from his hands. She instantly disappeared again, landing on top of a truck close by. Spider-Man flipped over the top of the man, webbing his hands together in makeshift handcuffs, and landed right beside the girl.

"Nice job, kids," Mr. Stark complimented, nodding at the two. Maisie smiled in spite of herself, proud of the remark. She glanced to the side of Mr. Stark where a suited-up Colonel James Rhodes stood, mask up and staring curiously at the two teens.

Peter, awkwardly, began speaking, "Thanks, Mr. Stark. Well, I could've stuck the landing a little better, it's just the new suit."

Mr. Stark gave him a look that Maisie read to say, 'Stop talking!' but Peter misinterpreted it.

"No, wh—it's nothing, Mr. Stark, it's perfect! Thank you," he rambled.

Maisie elbowed him, "Dude, shut up!"

Ignoring her, he continued, "Captain—big fan!" he pointed to himself. "Spider-Man."

Captain America looked at the two kids, amused. Maisie's eyes narrowed, wondering why he didn't look very irritated at being captured so easily. The girl frowned; it had been almost too easy.

Mr. Stark sighed, "Yeah, look we'll talk about it later, just—"

"Hey, everyone," Peter finished, giving a quick wave.

"You've been busy," Cap spoke up, nodding at the two.

"And you've been a complete idiot," Mr. Stark's tone shifted on a dime. Maisie's eyes widened at the blatant insult, and she felt Peter tense up beside her. "Dragging in Clint. 'Rescuing' Wanda from a place she doesn't even want to leave, a safe place. I'm trying to keep... I'm trying to keep you from tearing the Avengers apart."

The shield in Maisie's hands suddenly felt a lot heavier.

"You did that when you signed," Cap said. There was a finality to his voice that shocked both teens; were the Avengers really over?

"Alright, we're done," Mr. Stark shook his head. "You're gonna turn Barnes over, you're gonna come with us, _now_ , because it's us! Or a squad of J-SOC guys with no compunction about being impolite."

The sound of radio static echoed through Maisie's ears, but she couldn't focus on where it was coming from. She reached up to her comms, but she realized too late that it wasn't hers making the noise. It was Cap's.

The man held his hands above his head, and an arrow cut through the webbing, freeing his hands.

Peter, having heard the communication, started, "Hey, guys, something's—"

Before he could finish, someone appeared out of seemingly nowhere, kicking Maisie in the stomach and yanking the shield from her grasp. The girl flew backward, gasping for breath, and Peter joined her a second later, holding his head.

" _What the hell was that?_ " she heard Colonel Rhodes', War Machine's, voice over comms ask.

"I believe this is yours, Captain America!" her attacker said, handing over the shield to its owner. Maisie growled under her breath—randomly appearing out of nowhere was _her_ power.

" _Oh, great,_ " Mr. Stark's faceplate went down, and Iron Man was ready to fight. " _Alright, there's two on the parking deck, one of them's Maximoff, I'm gonna grab her. Rhodey, you wanna take Cap?_ "

" _Got it,_ " Rhodey responded, following suit. " _There's two in the terminal, Wilson and Barnes._ "

Maisie looked over at Peter, unsure of what to do. Peter reached over, pulling the girl to her feet, and he spoke into the comms, "Hey, Mr. Stark? What should we do?"

" _What we discussed_ ," Mr. Stark replied. " _Keep your distance, take their stuff, web 'em up!_ "

"Copy that," Maisie replied, her voice sounding much more confident than she felt. "Let's go."

With that, she latched onto Peter's hand and teleported them to the correct terminal. The sudden location change shocked Peter, but he quickly adjusted when he noticed that Bucky Barnes and Sam Wilson were sprinting right at the two of them. He only had a moment to react, catching the Winter Soldier's metal arm inches from his face.

He couldn't help himself, "Whoa! You have a metal arm? That is awesome, dude!"

Suddenly, Sam Wilson, Falcon, was in the air, tearing Spider-Man away from Barnes. Mischief heard his voice get quieter as the man flew them farther down the terminal.

A fist then flew at Maisie's face, but she teleported before it could reach her. She was simply not stronger than the Winter Soldier, that she knew, but she was angry. The girl appeared on his other side, kicking Barnes in the back of the knee, then disappearing before he could reach her again. She appeared on his other side, punching the back of his head and disappearing again. She felt better as she fell back into the groove of fighting.

Barnes was started to get irritated, turning in every direction and trying to predict when she'd show up next. It was only a matter of time before he got lucky, and his metal arm reached out into empty space, slamming into Mischief's gut.

"Jeez, what kind of steroids do you take for breakfast?" Maisie mumbled, not able to resist the snarkiness pouring from her mouth.

The girl let out a grunt as she dodged a second blow, able to get a hit off to his jaw before teleporting to his other side again. Unfortunately, he anticipated her location again, and grabbed her arm, kicking at her abdomen and sending her flying across the terminal. She teleported before she could hit the ground and landed hard on her feet, sprinting toward the man at full speed.

He got into his stance, but she disappeared before she could reach him, appearing on top of him and landing with her legs around his head. She twisted her body, using her thigh to put him into a choke hold. Maisie blamed herself for the next part; she should've known she was too light to be able to bring the damn Winter Soldier and his heavy metal arm to the ground.

Barnes reached up behind him and threw her to the ground, staring at her for only a moment before bringing his foot down. Despite her pain, she couldn't help the smirk as she disappeared from view again, this time on a high beam in the ceiling of the terminal.

"You're just a little too slow, old man," she called, baiting him. Maisie tried to make it look like she wasn't tired, but holy shit, the criminals of Queens had nothing on a HYDRA commissioned super-assassin.

Barnes ripped a piece of the airport from its previous position (it looked like a directory?) and threw it at the girl. She almost rolled her eyes, ready to dodge it with ease, but her friend had returned.

Spider-Man appeared and used his webs to change its direction to throw it back, "Hey, buddy, I think you lost this!"

Barnes narrowly avoided it, diving behind another section of the airport just in time. Maisie let out a laugh at Peter's commentary.

" _Little Red?_ " Mr. Stark's voice called over comms, shocking her out of her skin. Was that supposed to be her? The man grunted, " _Could use your help over here, witchy-voodoo and all that_."

"Be right there," Maisie replied, ignoring her new bruises.

"I got this!" Peter assured her, running away from a Falcon in pursuit.

Maisie glanced down at Barnes running away from the girl and toward the exit of the terminal, "Don't forget about the—ah, nevermind, I'll get him back here."

Mischief teleported down to Barnes, punched him in the back of the head for good measure, and teleported back to where Falcon and Spider-Man were currently dueling, dropping him back into the middle of the fight he was running from. The Winter Soldier looked confused for a moment, then angry as his eyes landed on her. She found a small moment of amusement seeing his confusion mixed with annoyance, then teleported back to where she started, looking for Mr. Stark and ready for the next fight.

Mischief appeared as War Machine tossed a broken electrical baton away, muttering under his breath. The man jumped when he saw her, looking ready to fight for a moment before remembering who his teammates were.

A short distance away, Captain America and the man who appeared out of nowhere stood waiting. Maisie almost made a comment that would've surely ended with an exasperated look from every adult in the airport, but before she could speak, the two both threw something small into the air. Her heart stopped as she imagined a bomb flying toward them.

Suddenly, the small thing grew in size, and a semi-truck was heading in their exact direction. Mischief saw that Iron Man, War Machine, and Black Widow were in direct line of fire, and she reacted instinctively. Black Widow had no multimillion dollar suit to protect her, nor the ability to fly, so she made the decision to save her.

Lurching forward, Mischief grabbed the woman's arm and teleported her away a couple hundred feet, a good distance away from the truck's massive explosion. The girl's eyes widened in shock; was Captain America actually trying to _kill_ them?

" _Alright, now I'm pissed_ ," Rhodey spat.

"What the fu—" Maisie breathed.

"Thanks, kid," Natasha spoke to her, gratitude filling her voice. Maisie's eyes widened ever so slightly at the praise. Then Iron Man and War Machine landed on the ground next to them. The woman's face quickly resumed its stony expression, "Is this part of the plan?"

"Well, my plan was to go easy on them," Mr. Stark replied, anger lacing his voice. "Wanna change it up?"

" _Yes_ ," Maisie replied, an edge to her voice. The three adults stared at her. She frowned, unapologetic, "Sorry, I'm not usually one for holding back."

Natasha let the corner of her mouth turn upward into a half-smile, "Good, neither are we."

The four heard movement from the other side of the terminal, and Captain America sprinted into view, gesturing for his friends to join him. The Winter Soldier, Falcon, Hawkeye, and Scarlet Witch fell into line behind him, focused on the quinjet waiting for them in Hangar Five.

War Machine and Iron Man took off toward them, intending to cut them off before they could get there. Beating them to it, a purple android came into view, Vision, using the Mind Stone to draw a line in the pavement, stopping them in their tracks.

"Wanna give me a lift, little one?" Natasha asked, gesturing at the growing crowd of superheroes.

The girl nodded, determination in her eyes. She teleported the two to stand alongside War Machine and Iron Man a distance away from their rogue teammates. Vision touched down alongside Black Widow, and after a moment, Mischief breathed a sigh of relief when Spider-Man joined the group, opting to stand close to her.

"Captain Rogers," Vision began, ever the diplomat, "I know you believe what you're doing is right, but for the collective good, you must surrender now."

Cap didn't reply, staring back at the line of superheroes. When no one moved, Sam Wilson spoke up; only Peter and Maisie could hear what he said.

"What do we do, Cap?" he asked.

A moment passed, and the Captain's jaw clenched, "We fight."

And Captain America started walking toward them, his team following behind him.

"This is gonna end well," Natasha mumbled under her breath, taking slow steps forward as if to meet them halfway.

"No kidding," Maisie frowned, stiff in her movements.

"Uhh," Peter started to jog, and both groups seemed to gain speed, "they're not stopping!"

"Neither are we," Mr. Stark replied through gritted teeth, and he flew even faster.

At his words, both teams broke into a sprint toward one another. Iron Man flew down as he reached Cap, aiming a punch downward at him. The man blocked it, holding his shield in front of his face just in time. Hawkeye's arrows were flying everywhere, aimed mostly at Vision, but he knew they'd only piss him off. War Machine flew off following Falcon, taking the fight to the air. Black Panther took off toward Barnes immediately, and Mischief assumed he was avenging his father's death. Feeling the rage build inside her again, she wanted to join that fight, but a blast of psionic energy pushed her flying in the opposite direction she was running. On instinct, she teleported before she could hit the ground, landing upright beside Black Widow's fight with the stupid randomly appearing man from earlier.

The man got Black Widow on the ground, and although the woman looked far from helpless, Maisie shrugged and kicked the gimmick-stealer in the back of the knee, forcing him to release her.

"Who even are you, anyway?" the girl asked, dodging the man's blind punch toward her with ease.

"Jeez, how many times do I have to say it?" the man didn't look angry, to Maisie's surprise, only exasperated. "I'm Ant-Man!"

Mischief couldn't help but giggle, but it caught in her throat as he disappeared in front of her eyes. Before she could react, Ant-Man flipped the girl onto her back, and appeared once more. Then, he seemed to remember Black Widow was still there. She took over, sending punch after punch toward him, and the man disappeared once more. The woman's arm was pulled behind her back, but somehow, the hold was released once she used her Widow Bites on her gauntlet.

"He can shrink," Natasha explained, standing up again.

Maisie's eyes widened, "Oh! So he's not like me, then?"

"I don't think anyone's like you," Natasha replied, unable to bring a smile to her face as she looked around the airport. A beat passed, and she sighed, "Back to work."

Mischief nodded, teleporting to the other side of the airport where Black Panther and the Winter Soldier were dueling. She didn't think she could ever win one-on-one against the super soldier, but if she kept popping around, wreaking havoc wherever necessary, she could help her teammates gain the upper hand. She appeared, sending a punch to Barnes' knee, causing him to stumble, and Black Panther took his shot. Barnes blocked it, but he glared at the empty space that Maisie had appeared in, mumbling curse words under his breath.

The girl teleported again, sweeping the feet out from Captain America as he tried to attack an already occupied Iron Man. Having the time to react, Iron Man flew up and landed back down on the other side of the man, ready to fight. She disappeared again, sending a punch to Hawkeye's gut. Again, twisting in midair to kick Falcon's wing, causing him to lose control for a moment. Again, another punch landed on Barnes. Again, Ant-Man didn't expect the blow to his head.

The girl had to pause, taking a beat to breathe. It was in that moment that she ran out of luck.

Red energy flew toward her, picking her up and throwing her into the nearest plane. Mischief couldn't react fast enough, and her shoulder slammed into the side of the plane before she fell the remaining few feet to the concrete. She looked up to see the Scarlet Witch, Wanda Maximoff, hands still raised with magic swirling around the tips of her fingers.

"Shit," Maisie mumbled, pushing herself to her feet. Something sharp pierced her side, and she looked down to see a large piece of shrapnel lodged a couple inches deep just above her hip.

Scarlet Witch's small smirk of victory faltered, noticing her injury. Maisie even thought she looked concerned for a moment, and she took her hesitation as a means of escape, teleporting into the nearest shelter. That just happened to be Hangar Five where the quinjet was located. She prayed that none of Team Cap would make it through because she wasn't sure how she'd be able to stop them.

"Shit, shit, fuck!" she cursed, clenching her fists in an attempt to ignore the pain. She had super-healing, and for that reason she knew she'd live, but it still felt like she was being stabbed. Fun fact about getting stabbed: it always hurt. "God, do I take it out? What do I do with this thing?"

Talking to herself was a strategy she used for solving most pressure-filled situations. Her peers in math class usually tried to sit farther away from her for that very reason.

"Usually, you're supposed to leave it in," a calm voice spoke up from behind her.

Maisie turned her head and saw Natasha standing guard over the quinjet, "Y-Yeah, I would, but it won't start to heal until I take it out."

Natasha looked like she understood, "You heal fast?"

"Yes, ma'am," Maisie winced, looking back down at the shrapnel in her side.

Natasha's mouth twitched at the girl's words, and she leaned down, pulling the metal from the girl's stomach. Maisie stared up in shock, panting as she tried to ignore the gaping hole where it used to be.

"How long do you think it'll take?" Natasha asked, examining the wound.

Maisie shrugged, "A couple hours? Maybe more before it feels completely normal again."

Static crackled over comms, and Maisie heard Rhodey say, " _Okay, tiny dude is big now, he's big now._ "

The two looked at one another in confusion, then their eyes widened. The Ant-Man guy became Giant-Man?

" _Holy shit!_ " Maisie heard Peter exclaim in shock.

"That's a distraction," Natasha concluded, eyes calculating. Maisie was lost, but the woman continued. "They're using him as a distraction to get to the jet."

Maisie glanced at the entrance to the hangar, "Well, good thing we're here to stop them, right?"

Natasha frowned, not looking at her. Maisie tried to pull herself to her feet, preparing herself for a fight against none other than Captain America. The sound of something collapsing filled her ears, and Maisie watched as one of the watch towers outside the hangar was falling right in front of the entrance. The relief Maisie felt was short-lived as the swirling red magic stopped the tower from collapsing just long enough for two figures to make it through the entrance.

Bucky Barnes and Steve Rogers stopped in their tracks upon seeing Natasha and Maisie waiting for them. The four regarded one another for a moment. Maisie shifted her hand's position on her bleeding side, wondering how she was supposed to fight them at the same time.

Natasha's stare was calm, regretful, "You're not going to stop."

"You know I can't," Steve replied, a sorrowful look on his face. It was obvious that this fight was tearing them apart.

"I'm gonna regret this," Natasha murmured, holding up her electrical gauntlet and firing toward them.

But, the shot didn't hit Bucky or Steve. Instead, T'Challa, King of Wakanda, went down, electricity coursing through him. Maisie stared in shock, turning to stare at the woman.

"Go," Natasha instructed, frowning. Steve and Bucky didn't need to be told twice, and they sprinted toward the quinjet.

Natasha sent another electrical shock at T'Challa, keeping him at bay. Maisie stared in the direction of the retreating Captain America, knowing there was nothing she could do. T'Challa escaped Natasha's blows with enough time to catch the wheel of the plane before falling back onto the ground again.

"I told you I'd help you find him, not catch him," Natasha shrugged, having no other explanation. "There's a difference."

T'Challa didn't spare the woman a second glance, running out of the hangar and toward the retreating quinjet as though he had a chance of taking it.

"Why did you do that?" Maisie stared after the quinjet, disbelief written on her face. "That guy killed innocent people in that bombing—"

"Steve said it wasn't him," Natasha's face remained impassive.

"And you believed him?" Maisie scoffed, eyes wide. "You let a criminal get away w-with..."

Natasha remained silent, pursing her lips.

The girl walked forward, unable to stand straight due to her side. Natasha stepped forward to help, but Maisie shook her head.

Natasha narrowed her eyes, "We went about this wrong. Maybe we need to be put in check, but any way that destroys our team isn't the way to do it."

"I agree! God, if only you'd been there when the Accords were signed, you could've done something about it," Maisie snapped, her sarcasm not going undetected.

"I did what I thought was right, just like I did now," Natasha argued.

"And now the terrorist escapes with Captain America like a couple of war criminals," Maisie shook her head. "I just wanted—I wanted to..."

"You wanted to make a difference like every one of us," Natasha nodded. "But we can't do that if we kill each other over a stupid debate about politics."

Maisie glanced up at her, recognizing the truth to her words. She stayed silent, still fuming about the failure she endured.

Natasha's eyes narrowed, "How old are you?"

Maisie frowned, "Why do you want to know?"

"I thought you and the other one were the same age, but I'm getting the sense you might be older," Natasha crossed her arms. "I didn't realize that you had an opinion on what's happening here. The other kid seems to just be here to kick Cap's ass and meet the Avengers."

Maisie felt argumentative, "He's one of the smartest people I've ever met." 

Although she'd only met Peter at school less than a month ago, after spending the day with him... Maisie didn't feel as though she was stretching the truth for sake of the argument.

"So is Tony," Natasha responded, "and he still managed to miss how to handle this in a way that didn't end up with the Avengers torn apart."

Maisie couldn't help the snort, "Then Peter's smarter than Mr. Stark and Captain Rogers, both. He'd never let this happen to the Avengers."

"Maisie!" Peter exclaimed in interruption. The two turned to see Spider-Man, limping slightly as he entered the airplane hangar. His mask was still on, but the girl could tell his eyes were wide in exasperation. "We agreed no real names!"

Maisie's smirk faltered for a moment as she noticed Natasha's smug reaction. Then, Maisie frowned, turning to face Peter, "You just called me 'Maisie,' you idiot!"

Peter's voice dropped, "Oops."

"Smarter than Stark, huh?" Natasha couldn't help the little dig, and she turned to leave the teens to themselves. She brushed shoulders with Maisie on the way out, "I'll see you again, _Maisie_. Don't worry, little ones. Your secrets are safe with me."

Once the woman left, Maisie couldn't help but turn and send a punch to Peter's arm. The girl winced as her stomach strained under the sudden movement.

"What's wrong?" he asked, limping over to her. His eyes widened at the gash in her side, "Did you get _impaled_?"

"No!" Maisie blushed, inexplicably embarrassed by the fact she'd been injured. She also hoped that he didn't catch the part where Natasha referenced her saying that Maisie thought Peter was smarter than Tony Stark. She held a hand over her side and nodded at Peter, changing the subject, "What's wrong with you?"

"The huge guy sorta backhanded me in midair while I was swinging and I landed on my head," Peter winced at the memory. "Then Mr. Stark told me I was done. They flew off after the quinjet a little bit ago."

"We're alone?" Maisie frowned. "What do we do now?"

******

It only took another fifteen minutes until the two heard the sirens.

Eyes widening, they stood up from their resting spot inside the hangar and went on high alert. Maisie grabbed Peter's arm, ready to teleport them out of sight if necessary. They were expecting police cars, and were surprised to find an ambulance leading the charge back to the airport.

"What the hell happened?" Maisie breathed.

Peter didn't reply, watching as the ambulance drove through the airport and in the direction of the missing quinjet.

"Maisie—" Peter began, but she interrupted.

"On it," and she teleported them to the scene, standing far enough back so they didn't grab any unwanted attention.

The two's eyes were drawn to Mr. Stark, de-helmeted in the Iron Man suit, and they saw Rhodey unconscious in front of him. Maisie brought a hand to her mouth, unable to understand. The Avengers were a team, they were _friends_. How could this have happened to Rhodey if that were true? Mr. Stark leaned over his best friend's unresponsive body, furiously trying to hold it together and failing. The only relief he felt was when he heard the ambulance arrive. Maisie didn't even notice Sam Wilson's unconscious body a few feet away until Mr. Stark told the paramedics that he wasn't the one to worry about.

"I-I don't understand," Peter's voice broke.

Maisie couldn't stand to watch as the paramedics loaded Rhodey onto a gurney. Mr. Stark entered the ambulance behind him, and they were gone. Sam Wilson laid still in the grass, and there was no sound.

Maisie reached over to grab Peter's hand, and she teleported them back to their hotel.

******

The two changed out of their suits, lounging around their adjoined hotel rooms as they waited for any sort of news from Mr. Stark or Happy. They weren't expecting anything anytime soon, mostly because of Rhodey's serious injuries, and the fact that Steve Rogers and his bomber friend escaped.

Maisie frowned as she changed out of her suit and into pajamas, trying to be gentle with her movements despite her frustration. As she took off her jacket, she felt something shift in her pocket. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion, and she reached inside to find a small slip of paper. On it, written in small, perfect print, was a phone number. Her confusion only increased, but then she remembered Natasha's deliberate shove of her shoulder as she left the airplane hangar, and her eyes widened. She had _Natasha Romanoff's_ phone number in her hand.

Maisie didn't know how that made her feel. As much as she hated to admit it, Maisie could understand Natasha's decision to allow them to escape on the quinjet, but that didn't make letting Mr. Stark down any easier. Still, she tucked the phone number into her backpack and zipped it shut; she'd deal with it later.

An hour later, she couldn't stop thinking about it. Maisie bit her lip hard, annoyance seeping into her features.

"You're doing it again," Peter mumbled, staring at the TV screen.

Maisie winced, moving her lip away from her teeth and tasting blood, "Shit."

"Mr. Stark's gonna figure it out," Peter told her, not oblivious to her stress. "You'll see, it'll be fine."

"Gotta love that giddy optimism of yours, Parker," Maisie muttered, rubbing her face with her hands in an attempt to rid herself of exhaustion. "We should've stopped them. We should've—"

"We did all we could, Maisie," Peter replied, the same tired tone to his voice. "We're only kids."

"Yeah, kids who can stop a bus with their bare hands and teleport to Tokyo and back," Maisie shot back.

Peter looked over, "You could teleport to Tokyo right now?"

Maisie shrugged, "If I had a picture, I could."

"Hmm," Peter mused.

The two turned back to the TV, watching some rerun of FRIENDS with German subtitles. She could get them home if they wanted, and Maisie knew that's what Peter was considering, but after everything that happened, they both wanted to wait until Mr. Stark got back.

Peter looked at the blonde girl out of the corner of his eye, jerking back with wide eyes to look at the TV screen when she turned her head.

Maisie couldn't help the smirk, "What, Peter?"

"Well, I just thought... well I was thinking, I have been thinking—" Peter cut himself off with a sigh. "When we get back, I was wondering if you'd maybe want to quit the whole solo hero thing?"

Maisie's eyes narrowed, "You want me to quit? Why? So you can have New York all to yourself? Unbelievable—"

"No! No, no, no, no, no!" Peter shook his head, waving his hands around. "That's not what I meant, I meant... I was thinking we could do it together. Like... a team?"

Maisie's jaw snapped shut, and she considered the idea. Staying up on school nights, hanging out with the one person who might understand what her life was like, stopping criminals from breaking the law in the name of justice. Maisie's lips twitched into a grin, and she watched the relief fill Peter's eyes.

"Alright, Spider-Man," Maisie nodded, holding her hand out. "Partners."

"Partners, um..." Peter seemed to draw a blank, and Maisie shook her head with a smile.

"Mischief. Final answer," she supplied. "And for the record, we'll be a better team than the Avengers."

"Mischief," Peter repeated, a smirk on his face. "Somehow I think that applies to more than just your superpowers."

Maisie laughed, "Just you wait, Spidey."


	4. A Film By Maisie McCall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spider-Man & Mischief: Homecoming Pt. 1

_"New York, Queens," Peter began in a dramatic voice. "It's a rough borough, but hey, it's home."_

_"Who are you talking to?" Happy spoke from the front seat._

_Peter's voice returned to normal, "No one. Just making a small video of the trip."_

_"You know you can't show that to anyone, right?" Happy warned, looking at the boy from the rearview mirror with a pointed stare._

_"Yeah, I know," Peter sighed._

_"Then why are you narrating in that voice?"_

_"Because it's fun!"_

_"Fun," Happy scoffed._

_Peter paused before asking the question he'd been waiting to ask, "So... why do they call you Happy?"_

_Happy rolled up the car's partition._

_The screen went dark._

_Peter's eyes widened as he saw the plane, "Whoa, hey, do I need to go to the bathroom before?"_

_"There's a bathroom on it, let's go," Happy replied, rolling his eyes._

_The two climbed the steps to the plane, and Peter could hardly contain his enthusiasm._

_"Whoa, no pilot? That's awesome!" Peter remarked, smiling brightly._

_"Kid?" Happy called, looking around the plane, confused. "I swear there's supposed to be two of you."_

_"Two of me?" Peter's eyebrows furrowed, filming the inside of the plane._

_Happy pulled out his phone, and Mr. Stark's voice rang through the small plane, "_ Happy? _"_

_"Tony? Yeah, the girl's not here," the man reported, frowning._

"I had the other guy drop her off," _Mr. Stark replied, sounding tired_. "Andrew? Arnold?"

_"What do you mean, you had Antonio drop her off?" Happy sounded exasperated. "She's not here—ah!"_

_Maisie teleported on screen and in front of Peter's camera, but the boy only got her on film for a split second before he dropped his phone._

_The screen went dark._

_The next few clips were of Maisie and Peter sightseeing Berlin, a couple selfies and a voice-over of Peter saying, "No one's actually given the two of us a lot of info on why we're in Berlin or what we're doing, just something about Captain America going crazy—"_

_"He told us about the Sokovia Accords," Maisie pointed out, "That's definitely why we're here."_

_"Yeah, I guess. It's been a crazy day," Peter realized._

_"It's only gonna get crazier," the smirk in her voice was almost audible._

_The screen went dark._

_Peter's standing in front of a mirror, giving himself a pep talk, "Alright, Peter, you've got this. You got this—"_

_Someone opened the door to his room. Maisie paused when she saw his suit, "What the hell are you wearing?"_

_"It's my suit," Peter felt a little offended._

_Maisie was covered in head-to-toe purple and black, looking like a mix of Black Widow and Scarlet Witch. Her suit looked like it was made by Tony Stark with the flexible material that simultaneously ensured good movement and provided for some protection. Peter felt a little jealous, but he didn't want to say anything._

_"You didn't get one?" Maisie looked confused, gesturing at her new suit. "Don't you have a case?"_

_"What case?" Peter asked, still recording._

_Maisie ignored him, heading for a door in the corner of his room. She opened the door, and his eyes widened as she entered another part of the hotel room with a living room and a short table with a large silver case on it._

_"That's still my room?" Peter asked, shocked. He flipped the camera around, "My room is way bigger than I thought!"_

_"Here it is!" Maisie smiled triumphantly, and she gestured for Peter to open it._

_"Okay, a minor upgrade?" Peter held the card with those words and a signature from 'TS.'_

_Peter unbuckled the case, and it opened to reveal a high-tech version of the sweatshirt suit he was wearing then._

_"Come on, Pete, we're gonna be late!" Maisie sighed, turning to leave._

_"Wait, I don't understand, is this for me?" the camera flipped to Maisie, giving him a look, and he knew the answer before she could even speak._

_"Kids, I'm leaving now, don't make me tell you again!" Happy's voice echoed from the other room._

_"Coming!" Maisie called, turning to Peter. "Hurry up!"_

_"Okay!"_

_The screen went dark._

_Peter and Maisie hid themselves until Mr. Stark called for them, and Peter recorded every second of the waiting._

_"Love the spandex, by the way, Spidey," Maisie's sarcastic voice echoed in the film._

_The camera flipped toward her, and Peter scoffed, pointing it at her hair, "Whatever, your hair clashes with the purple on your suit anyway."_

_Maisie snorted, shaking her head, "All the insults, and you go with 'the red streaks in your hair clash with your suit'? That's pathetic."_

_Peter put his phone down, filming the ground instead, "Well, it's harder to insult you."_

_"Thanks, Pete," Maisie's amused voice carried through the phone._

_Their conversation eventually cut short as Mr. Stark yelled, "Underoos! Little Red!"_

_"Gotta go!" Peter set his phone down and flipped in as Maisie teleported._

_The screen went dark._

_Peter picked up his phone again, flipping it to face his and Maisie's faces as they sat inside the hangar waiting for their next orders._

_"So, Maisie and I just had our first fight as Avengers..." Peter greeted, eyes alight with excitement. "I definitely have a concussion, and Maisie here got impaled—"_

_"I did not get impaled!" she protested, wincing as she spoke too fast._

_"She definitely got impaled," Peter continued, "but we're gonna be fine! Oh, God, it was the most amazing thing that's ever happened! So Mr. Stark was like, "Hey, Underoos!" and I just sort of flipped in and Maisie stole Cap's shield, and I was like, 'Hey, what's up, everybody?' And then—"_

_"Yeah, you really should work on that whole 'talking while fighting' thing," Maisie suggested, shrugging._

_"It's funny! It's fine, Mr. Stark was cool with it," Peter shook his head, dismissing the thought._

_Sirens sounded from the background of Peter's vlog, and the two's excitement dissipated at the sound._

_"Pete, put that away—"_

_"Yep."_

_The screen went dark._

_"So, now, we're just hanging out in the hotel room until Mr. Stark comes to get us," Peter sighed into the phone, eating a piece of popcorn from the bowl in front of him._

_He flipped the camera to show Maisie almost asleep in the bed, and he moved closer until he was about a foot away from her face with the camera._

_Without opening her eyes, Maisie spoke, "Get that camera out of my face, Parker."_

_"Yes, ma'am," Peter exclaimed, returning to his seat in front of the TV._

_Maisie smirked, and she reached over to grab a handful of popcorn._

_The screen went dark._

******

Happy braked hard, and Maisie held her hands out to stop herself from slamming her head on the seat in front of her. For a chauffeur, Happy could really improve on his driving skills.

"Whoops, we're here," the man said, not sounding very apologetic.

Mr. Stark took off his glasses, "Happy, can you give us a moment?"

Peter's and Maisie's eyes flicked back and forth between the two men.

"You want me to leave the car?" Happy asked, annoyed.

"Why don't you grab the kids' cases from the trunk," Mr. Stark suggested.

Peter lowered his phone, ceasing the recording, "We can keep the suits?"

Maisie was a little shocked too, but then again, who else would wear them?

"'Course, we were just talking about this," Mr. Stark waved the boy off. "Goldilocks, you good to be dropped off here, too? Don't wanna stress Happy out too much if you can just poof yourself back home."

Maisie nodded, "Yeah, sure. My dad's on a business trip, he won't miss me while he's away anyway."

Something flickered in Mr. Stark's eyes, but he didn't comment, instead, he nodded and turned to look at both kids, "Alright, do me a favor. Happy's kind of your point guy on this. Don't stress him out. Don't do anything stupid, okay? I've seen his cardiogram. Got it?"

Maisie snorted, but Peter nodded enthusiastically, "Yes."

"Don't do anything I would do, and definitely don't do anything I wouldn't do," Mr. Stark advised. Maisie was lost. "There's a little grey area in there, and that's where you two operate."

"Wait, does that mean we're Avengers?" Peter asked. Maisie wondered if he tried to look like a lost puppy or if it just came naturally for him.

"No," Mr. Stark shook his head almost instantly. Maisie felt her stomach sink, but she couldn't really expect his answer to be yes. She blamed Peter and his constant optimism.

Happy knocked on the car door, holding a case in each hand and struggling to hold them up.

"Seventh floor," Mr. Stark called, nodding and pointing up at the building.

Peter shook his head, "We can take that, don't worry about it, we've got it."

"Thank you," Happy dropped the cases on the ground outside the car, and Peter turned back to Mr. Stark.

"So, when's our next 'retreat' you know? Like..." Peter used air-quotes over 'retreat.'

"Next mission?" Mr. Stark questioned. The man glanced at Maisie, who raised an eyebrow as she tried to figure out what he was thinking. "We'll call you."

Maisie felt herself deflate, but she kept face, if not for herself, then for Peter.

The boy continued, "Wait, do you have my number?" He reached for his phone.

"No, I mean, like, we'll call you," Mr. Stark repeated, as though it were clearer the second time. "As in, someone will call you."

"Oh! Like, from your team," Peter nodded like he understood.

Mr. Stark reached for Peter's door to let him out, and Maisie pretended not to watch as the boy mistook the gesture for a hug. She teleported outside the car to avoid any more awkward deflections from the man. It was obvious that Mr. Stark wouldn't be contacting them for a while, if ever again.

Peter stepped out of the car, having recovered quickly from the awkward not-hug. The two teens watched as Happy drove away, taking Tony Stark with him.

Peter turned to Maisie, "They're gonna call us!"

The girl couldn't help but smile at his enthusiasm, "Yeah, they are."

"Wanna stay for dinner?" Peter lifted his case with no problem, and he even grabbed Maisie's for her. "I know you probably don't want to stay home alone..."

Maisie nodded, "Sure, thanks, Pete."

"You're gonna love Aunt May..." the boy's excited tone continued on about random things from the trip and about school the next day and everything they'd get to do on patrol now that they were partners. She just let him talk, inspired by his excitement.

Hopefully, Mr. Stark wouldn't let him down.

******

TWO MONTHS LATER

Maisie waited outside the school for Peter's subway to arrive. She said she could always drop by and teleport them to school so he'd have more time in the morning, but Peter said he liked taking the subway, so the girl let him be.

It'd been two months since Germany, and Maisie could tell that the lack of communication from Mr. Stark and Happy was starting to take a toll on him. Still, Peter held onto a bit of hope, and Maisie was determined to make sure it wouldn't die out.

"'Sup, Penis Parker!" a voice called, laughing.

Maisie saw Peter rolling his eyes as Flash Thompson sped away in his silver sports car, not before sending a middle finger in Maisie's direction that she forced herself not to return.

She smiled upon seeing Peter, "Hey."

"Hey, Maisie," Peter greeted, walking through the school's front doors by her side.

The morning announcements from Betty Brant and Jason Ionello played on the TV as they entered the building, the two of them looking as awkward as ever as they discussed the upcoming homecoming dance. The school was busy, and Maisie ducked to avoid a drone flying through the air. Principal Morita saw the drone and immediately grabbed it out of the air, pulling the kid into his office.

Maisie's locker was a few down from Peter's, and she left him for a moment to find grab her books for her first class. MJ texted to say she'd be late, so she didn't need to meet up with her before first period started. She made her way back to Peter's locker as Ned Leeds creeped up behind Peter with a small Lego Star Wars character in his hands.

"Join me, and together, we'll build my new Lego Death Star!" Ned used a creepy voice to mimic the character, but Maisie had no idea who it was. She'd never willingly tell Peter or Ned, but she'd never seen Star Wars before.

"What?" Peter exclaimed, eyes bright.

"So lame," a cheerleader scoffed a small distance from the two.

Maisie shot the girl a glare, and the cheerleader silenced herself with a roll of her eyes, pulling her friends somewhere else.

"No way! That's awesome, how many pieces?" Peter asked, sending an appreciative glance at Maisie as she stood next to him.

"Three thousand eight hundred and three," Ned replied proudly. When Maisie arrived, the boy's eyes widened, "H-Hey, Maisie."

"Hey, Ned," she responded, smiling. "Death Star sounds awesome, how long does it usually take to put together?"

"Depends on how good you are at doing it," Ned replied, wincing. "Um, at putting the pieces together, I mean."

Maisie nodded in understanding, and Peter nodded, "That's insane, dude! Three thousand pieces?"

"I know!" Ned looked excited. "Wanna build it tonight?"

"No, man, I'm sorry," Peter closed his locker, avoiding Maisie's eyes. "I've got the Stark—"

"Stark Internship, yeah, I know," Ned sighed. "You know, Maisie's got the internship, but she doesn't skip out on plans nearly as much."

"That's because Maisie isn't as dedicated as I am," Peter responded, sending a triumphant smirk at the girl.

Maisie rolled her eyes, not wanting to get into this discussion again, "Actually, Peter, it's because I still value some things in my life. Like food, rest, my friends, schoolwork—"

"None of that will matter if this leads to a real job one day," Peter shook his head, looking determined.

Maisie bit her lip so she wouldn't argue, and Ned saved her from a reply, "That's be so sweet. He'd be all, 'Good job on those spreadsheets, Peter. Here's a gold coin.'"

Peter and Maisie gave the boy a look.

Ned shrugged, "I don't know how jobs work."

"That's exactly how they work," Maisie laughed, nudging him. She turned to Peter, "Right?"

Peter didn't reply. The girl looked at him, and she was only vaguely aware of Ned talking about the Death Star again, "Okay, so I'll knock out the basic bones of the Death Star at my place. And, and then I'll come by afterwards..."

Maisie stopped listening as she realized what Peter was staring at. Liz Allan walked down the far end of the hallway with Betty Brant, and Maisie understood instantly as she watched Liz make eye contact with a dumbstruck Peter. It was obvious that Peter'd had a crush on Liz since Academic Decathlon started this year. Maisie thought the girl was nice enough, but she didn't understand Peter's infatuation with her.

"Yeah, sounds great," Peter mumbled, obviously hearing nothing of what Ned said.

Maisie frowned, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear, and she walked the rest of the way to her physics classroom. Peter and Ned scrambled after her as the bell rang.

******

"Okay, so how do we calculate the linear progression from A to B?" Ms. Warren asked the class.

Maisie resisted rolling her eyes. She was doing these kinds of calculations in a SHIELD facility with the top astrophysicists in the world before she could ride a bike. The girl stifled a yawn and looked over at Peter watching videos of himself as Spider-Man on YouTube instead of paying attention. Maisie smirked as she watched herself jump in and teleport Spider-Man out of the way of an incoming bus, and Peter turned his head to stick his tongue out at her before returning to the video.

The girl looked up as Flash answered, "It's the product of sine of the angle and gravity divided by mass."

Maisie snorted, earning a glare from Flash as Ms. Warren replied, "Nope."

Peter didn't notice Ms. Warren's eyes land on him as he was obviously not paying attention. Maisie nudged him with her elbow, and his head shot up.

"Peter, I'm glad you're still with us," Ms. Warren gestured at the board.

"Uh, um," Peter glanced at the chalkboard for a moment to figure it out, "mass cancels out, so it's just gravity times sine."

Maisie covered a smirk with her hand at Flash's annoyed face.

"Correct," Ms. Warren smiled, turning to Flash. "See, Flash, being the fastest isn't always the best if you're wrong."

Flash turned around and made eye contact with Peter, mouthing, 'You're dead.'

Maisie just rolled her eyes, and Peter suppressed a sigh as he turned back to Ms. Warren, shutting his laptop for the rest of the period.

The next class was chemistry, one of Maisie's new favorites. There weren't many topics that challenged her in the subject of physics, so biology and chemistry were where she actually felt as though she were invested in learning something.

Peter was her lab partner since Ned wasn't in the class, and Maisie had to keep nudging him whenever Mr. Cobbwell came near their desk so he wouldn't catch him making his web fluid in the lab drawer. Chemistry bored Peter unless he was making something of his own, like the fluid, and he preferred the mechanics and engineering contrast to Maisie. The only thing the two could agree on was their love for physics, though they both found the high school class pretty basic.

Maisie caught Peter looking at the clock several times that day, looking agitated every time, as though it weren't moving fast enough for him.

"Calm down," Maisie sighed, handing him another component of the web fluid. "Only lunch, free period for Decathlon, then one more hour."

"Yeah, English," Peter wrinkled his nose, shutting the drawer as Mr. Cobbwell moved by their row, talking about quantum theory and Niels Bohr.

"I'm so glad I have that in the morning," Maisie smirked. "I get it out of the way nice and early."

"Well, choir for a last class isn't much better," Peter shot back.

"That's because you can't sing," Maisie countered, turning back to their actual experiment.

Peter frowned, "How do I know that you can sing?"

Maisie looked bored as she replied, "Quit being so argumentative, Parker. Now, hand me the hydrogen peroxide."

Peter mumbled something under his breath, but obeyed. His eyes flicked back up to the clock, and he sighed.

Lunch was a dull affair, but at least MJ was back from whatever appointment she had in the morning. She sat next to Maisie across from Ned and Peter, eating her lunch quietly as Maisie talked to her about something she wouldn't remember once the bell rang.

"Did Liz get a new top?" Peter asked, palm under his chin.

The two girls looked up, and seeing Peter's gaze behind them, they both turned around. Liz Allan was standing on a ladder, putting up the banner for the homecoming dance in a few weeks.

Ned shook his head, replying, "No, we've seen that before, but never with that skirt."

Maisie rolled her eyes and turned back around to face her food, taking a bite of a carrot stick and munching on it loudly.

"We should probably stop staring before it gets creepy, though," Peter sighed, though he didn't look like he was ready to move.

"Too late," MJ spoke up, turning around. "You guys are losers."

Maisie smirked, sharing a grin with MJ as Peter and Ned looked offended.

"Then why do you sit with us?" Ned shot back, frowning at his food.

"Because Maisie's my only friend," MJ replied, shrugging.

Maisie laughed, and the two returned to their conversation. She tried to ignore the lingering looks Peter kept sending over Maisie's shoulder at the senior girl behind her.

******

Maisie's free hour was spent hanging out with the Academic Decathlon team which Ned, Peter, and MJ were all a part of. Maisie was pressured to join once she became friends with the three, but she immediately declined.

"No, nope," she had said, shaking her head. "I am not good under pressure."

Peter sent her a look, obviously knowing that wasn't the case.

"Not about knowing things!" Maisie shot back, glaring. "I act and think fast under that kind of pressure, but in front of a crowd? No thank you. I'll stick to my disappearing act, thanks."

Nevertheless, she was always there to keep time and hang out around the team. She was sure she could even get into going on the trip to Washington D.C. in a couple weeks... MJ was very persuasive.

Liz spoke up, getting the team back on track, "Let's move to the next question. What is the heaviest naturally-occurring element?"

Charles slammed his hand down on the bell, "Hydrogen's the lightest!" he paused, frowning. "That's not the question."

"Uranium," Abe rang his bell and answered. Cindy frowned at him as she found the answer in one of her books just after he replied.

"That is correct," Liz smiled. "Thank you, Abraham."

Abe punched his fist in the air, "Yes!"

"Please open your books to page ten..." Maisie zoned out as Liz instructed the group what to do next.

Maisie glanced over at Peter having a conversation with Mr. Harrington, the man in charge of the team.

She only caught the end of Mr. Harrington's words, "Peter, it's Nationals. Is there no way you could take one weekend off?"

"I can't go to Washington because if Mr. Stark needs me, then I have to make sure that I'm here," Peter protested, shaking his head.

Maisie wanted to argue, but she only felt a surge of pity for the boy. Apparently, others didn't share her feelings.

"You've never even been in the same room as Tony Stark," Flash scoffed, shaking his head. His feet were propped up in a chair, and he had looked up from his book to make the comment

Cindy looked confused, "Wait, what's happening?"

Sally didn't look up from her book as she replied, "Peter's not going to Washington."

"No. No, no, no, no, no," Cindy shook her head, anxiety filling her features. "No."

Okay, so someone really wanted Peter to go to Washington.

Abe rang his bell, calling out, "Why not?"

"Really?" Liz looked annoyed. "Right before Nationals?"

"He already quit marching band and robotics lab," Maisie spoke up, frowning at her friend from her place next to MJ. The Decathlon team turns to look at her, and she shrugged, "Better hope he doesn't quit everything else, too."

Peter frowned at her, but Maisie stared back with a defiant look. The boy was giving up too much on the off-chance Tony Stark decided to maybe pick up his phone. It was going too far.

"Flash, you're in for Peter," Liz sounded reluctant to tell him that.

"Ooh, I don't know," Flash mocked. "I gotta check my calendar first. I got a hot date with Black Widow coming up."

Maisie scoffed, "She would kill you without batting an eye."

Abe rang his bell, "That is true."

Mr. Harrington sighed, "Abraham, what did I tell you about using the bell for comedic purposes?"

The bell rang, signaling the end of the free hour reserved for Decathlon, and the students picked up their bags, heading for the door. Ned and MJ left for different classes, but Peter took his time, waiting for Maisie.

"Thanks for that, by the way," Peter started, sarcasm lacing his tone.

Maisie didn't give herself room to feel sorry for him, "You did that to yourself, Pete. And for no reason."

"You know we have to be ready if—" Peter was interrupted.

"We are ready! Having band practice won't interfere with it," Maisie threw her bag over her shoulder and left the room. Peter scrambled after her.

"We're pretty much Avengers now," Peter spoke quietly, glancing over his shoulder. "Avengers are ready at all times. They don't even have band practices."

Maisie rolled her eyes, "Mr. Stark told us that we're not Avengers. I was there, remember? And they don't have band practices because _they don't go to high school_."

"Yeah, but—" Peter argued.

"Peter," Maisie turned to face him, feeling her heart ache. "As much as I don't want it to be true, Mr. Stark doesn't need us. We'll figure it out by ourselves until he does."

Peter shut his mouth, looking down at his shoes. Maisie hated to always be the one to put him down, but sooner or later, he had to be realistic. She just supposed that she had a bit of a tougher time holding onto hope while Peter was constantly full of it.

"Come on, let's get to class," she pulled him toward his English classroom.

******

After school, Maisie teleported home to change into her Mischief suit. She was still in awe that she got to keep it after the fight in Berlin, and she smiled every time she saw it. Leaving her backpack on her desk and grabbing a quick snack, she teleported into the alley where she and Peter usually met up, appearing in a sitting position atop a closed Dumpster.

Apparently, she was a little early, because she found the boy half-dressed and pulling up the suit from his ankles. He hadn't heard Maisie arrive, and the girl watched him with one eyebrow raised as he stumbled to get his suit on. Peter was a nerd, that she knew, but the boy was also a superhero. With superhero-ing came muscles, and Maisie watched Peter with a satisfied smirk as she quickly located his. _Thank God for that radioactive spider_ , she thought.

Pressing the black spider symbol on the front of his suit, Peter compressed it to his body and reached for his backpack. He webbed it to the wall next to Maisie's Dumpster and looked up, letting out a yelp of surprise when he saw her.

"Jeez! When did you get here?" he asked, holding a hand to his heart.

"Long enough to know what color your underwear is," Maisie smirked. "Red, by the way. And, doesn't your spidey-sense alert you when shit like this happens?"

Peter put his mask over his head, "Not when it isn't a threat."

Maisie narrowed her eyes, "I'm not threatening?"

"Not to me," Maisie could hear the grin in Peter's voice, and he shot a web out of the alley, swinging toward the city.

Maisie scoffed, teleporting from building to building in an attempt to work on her cardio. She was faster than the average human, which she learned when she won several awards in middle school for track by beating the runner-up by a lap nearly every time. She quit before it became suspicious.

Eventually, she got sick of waiting around for Peter to land on a suitable rooftop and paused, scanning the streets below for any sign of crime. She zeroed in on a Grand Theft Bicycle a couple blocks away, but Spider-Man was already swinging toward it.

The girl smirked as he wrote a note and left the bike near a shop entrance.

Peter swung up to Maisie's location and sighed, sitting down next to her.

"Bike all safe?" she quipped.

"Yep," Peter smiled, opening a brown paper bag and offering her a sandwich. He grabbed his own sandwich with extra pickles, smushed down real flat, and rolled up his mask above his mouth to take a bite.

She accepted, taking the turkey and lettuce on white. She crossed her legs under her, taking a bite, "How'd the English test go?"

Peter shrugged, "Easy, but I still don't like the Crucible."

"You wouldn't," Maisie agreed, nodding. She took another bite of her sandwich and looked out at Queens. "By the way, I think MJ's catching on to this whole thing..."

Peter scoffed, "No way, we're super careful."

Maisie rolled her eyes, "You make your web fluid during chem, Pete. You're not as subtle as you think you are."

The two were interrupted by another petty crime, and Maisie took that one, returning the purse to the middle-aged woman who lost it. She gave Maisie an approving nod, but the look of hesitation on her face told Maisie she wasn't exactly trusting of the vigilante.

Maisie teleported back to their previous location and saw Peter assist an elderly woman with directions and even help her cross the street. She watched with a small smile, shaking her head in amusement. Peter really was the best person she knew. Across the street, the old lady insisted on buying Peter a churro for all his help, and Maisie let out a laugh that she knew Peter could hear.

He accepted, thanking her, and swung off toward Maisie with the cinnamon dessert in hand.

"You better give me half," Maisie joked, but of course, Peter obliged and ripped the treat in half.

Peter glanced over across the city, noticing the sun starting to set. He frowned, knowing not much happened that day that would make for an interesting report, but he still took his phone out.

"You calling today?" Maisie asked, mouth full of churro. "Don't forget to mention the churro!"

Peter chuckled and dialed Happy's number, reaching voicemail like always.

"Hey, Happy!" Peter began, sounding upbeat. "Um, here's my report for tonight. I stopped a Grand Theft Bicycle. Couldn't find the owner, so I just left a note. Um... Maisie stopped a mugging, and the lady who lost the purse didn't seem as grateful as she thought she would be, but that could just be Maisie's whining—" Maisie smacked him, an amused smirk on her face as she shook her head. Peter continued, taking a bite of his churro, "I helped this lost, old Dominican lady. She was really nice and bought me a churro. So I just, um, feel like we could be doing more. You know? Just curious when the next real mission is gonna be. So, yeah, just call me back. It's Peter. Parker."

Peter hung up, sighing. Maisie winced, "I was just kidding about telling him about the churro."

"I knew it," Peter shook his head.

A warning signal sounded, and Maisie glanced at Peter's webshooters, reading 'web fluid low.' Peter sighed and ejected the cartridge, lurching forward to catch it when it flew off the side of the building. He stood perpendicular on the side of the building, holding it safely in his hands and smiled, placing it on his belt and retrieving a new one.

Maisie snorted, "I will never get used to that."

"What? I'm sticky, it's not that big of a deal," Peter retorted.

"How many times have I told you, don't say that!" Maisie laughed.

When Peter remained silent, Maisie looked over, seeing his gaze locked in on something a short distance away. Four men armed with weapons and plastic masks were entering a closed bank, heading for the ATMs.

"Finally, something good," Peter mumbled.

Maisie shot him a look, but couldn't help but agree, "Wanna tag-team this one?"

Peter smirked, "Beat you there?"

He jumped off the building, swinging toward the bank. Maisie rolled her eyes, teleporting to the front door and arriving fifteen seconds before Peter.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," he muttered, opening the front door.

Maisie followed behind him, staring down the backs of the criminals loading money from the ATMs into black duffel bags. They hadn't noticed the two young superheroes yet, and Maisie crossed her arms, gesturing for Peter to go ahead.

He stood awkwardly with his hand on the wall, crossing his legs, "What's up, guys? Forget your PIN number?"

The four men whipped around, startled by the interruption, and Maisie noticed that their plastic masks were Avengers merch. Cartoon faces of Thor, Iron Man, Hulk, and Captain America stared back at them, barely hiding covering the criminals.

"Whoa!" Peter's fake enthusiasm rolling off his tongue. "You're the Avengers! What are you guys doing here?"

One of the criminals aimed his gun at Spider-Man, but he webbed it and sent it flying into Impostor Hulk's and Faux Thor's faces, knocking them to the ground.

"Wow, didn't take much for the strongest Avenger to get knocked off his feet," Maisie quipped teleporting out of the way of another gun aimed her way and swiping the legs out from under Iron Man.

Peter turned to Maisie, catching Captain Fake-Merica's fist in his hand, "Were you talking about Thor or Hulk?"

Maisie scoffed, "Thor, obviously."

Peter nodded, relieved, "Good, I was afraid I was gonna have to argue..."

Captain Fake-Merica started throwing more and more punches that Spider-Man dodged seamlessly, and Mischief kicked the weapon out of Iron Hoax's hands. The girl winced as he landed a hit to her face, glaring. She turned back to keep fighting, but Spider-Man interrupted, throwing Captain Fake-Merica at Iron Hoax and sending them into a heap on the ground.

"Iron Man? Hey, what are you doing robbing a bank, aren't you a billionaire?" Peter scoffed, dodging a punch to his face.

Mischief focused on Impostor Hulk and Faux Thor, teleporting around them to confuse them before sending punches to every part of their body. While Spider-Man was fighting Iron Hoax, he didn't notice Captain Fake-Merica lift one of the weapons, pressing the trigger and aiming right at him. Next thing they knew, he was suspended in midair, surrounded by a purple and blue glow.

"Whoa, this feels so weird..." Peter managed to say. Maisie teleported next to him, intending on moving the two out of the way of the weapon, but she quickly found that she couldn't teleport out of the way.

"What the hell—" she tried, but Captain Fake-Merica used the weapon to throw the two into the wall.

As soon as the weapon released them, Mischief teleported out of its aim, but Spider-Man wasn't fast enough. Captain Fake-Merica caught him in the device again, slamming him against the walls and ceilings, back and forth.

"I'm starting to think... you guys aren't the Avengers!" Peter forced the words out, wincing as his body took a hard hit on the ground.

Mischief teleported behind the weapon, kicking Captain Fake-Merica behind the knees and forcing him to the ground. She grabbed the weapon from him and threw it against the wall. It broke on impact, sparks flying as it landed on the ground.

"Where did you losers get tech like that?" she demanded, flipping out a small knife from her waist to help with the intimidation. "Huh?"

She never got an answer. As she was busy with Captain Fake-Merica, Impostor Hulk managed to pick up one of the other weapons, and set it off. It was different from the other one, cutting through the bank's walls with a laser so intense it got out of his control. Peter and Maisie watched in horror as it cut through the sandwich shop across the street, Delmar's. The shop exploded, flames spewing in every direction.

Maisie teleported inside immediately, and she found Mr. Delmar coughing near the cash register, trying to gather his bearings. She grabbed his arm and teleported them outside the building as Peter ran inside. The boy came out a minute later with a fat cat tucked under his arm, and he handed it to Mr. Delmar.

The two teen superheroes turn to face the bank, and they frown when they see that the robbers had escaped.

"We need to call Happy," Maisie frowned, glaring at the destroyed bank.

"Yeah," Peter agreed, the same somber tone to his voice.

******

Peter ran across the top of a building until he reached his and Maisie's usual rendezvous point. She teleported next to him a moment later, already dialing the number.

" _Hello?_ " she heard Happy's usual dismissive voice on the other line.

"Happy, some really crazy shit just happened," Maisie began, an edge to her voice. "There were some guys robbing some ATMs, and—"

Happy scoffed, " _Calm down, I don't have time for ATM robberies._ "

"Yeah, fine, but—" she tried to continue, but he interrupted again.

"— _or the thoughtful notes that Peter always leaves behind. I have moving day to worry about, alright?_ " Happy sounded oddly proud of that statement. " _Everything's gotta be here by next week._ "

Peter snatched the phone out of Maisie's hand, "Wait, wait! You're moving? Who's moving?"

The girl felt a pit form in her stomach, and the look on Peter's face let her know that he was feeling the same.

" _Don't you watch the news?_ " Happy chastised. " _Tony sold Avengers Tower. We're relocating to a new facility upstate where, hopefully, the cell service is much worse._ "

Maisie scoffed, shaking her head. She pulled her knees to her chest and looked out at the city.

"But what about us?" Peter asked, worry lacing his voice.

" _What about you?_ " Happy sounded confused.

"Well, what if Mr. Stark needs us or something?" Peter sighed. "I don't know, what if something big goes down? Can I please just talk to Mr. Stark?"

" _Look, just stay away from anything too dangerous. I'm responsible for making sure you two are responsible, okay?_ " Happy instructed, not answering Peter's question.

"I am responsible," Peter felt his voice dwindle to something that sounded more like a whine, and Maisie took the phone back.

"Happy, seriously, these guys robbing the ATMs got away with—" she tried, but Happy interrupted.

" _They got away? That doesn't sound very responsible,_ " Happy countered. He sounded like he was talking to someone on the other line, and before Maisie could speak again, he continued, " _Sorry, kids. I gotta go, feel free to not call me back!_ "

The line went dead, and Maisie glared at the 'Call Ended' screen lighting up her phone.

"Damn it!" she cursed, shaking her head. "Why doesn't he ever listen to us?"

Peter frowned, "Maybe because every time we've called him it's been about churros and saving cats from trees."

Maisie stood up, knowing he was right. She paced the side of the building for a while before checking the time on her phone and showing it to Peter.

"May wanted to cook tonight, turkey meatloaf or something, if you wanna come over?" Peter gave her a sideways glance.

It wasn't a secret that Maisie and her father didn't really get along. He'd always been distant, but after her mother died, it had only gotten worse. She tried not to spend a lot of time at home, and thanks to her superpowers, she didn't have to. Peter always offered to host her for dinner, and despite May's atrocious cooking, she loved to eat with the Parkers. It was obvious that May loved Peter, and she often reminded Maisie of her own mother.

Maisie nodded, half-smiling, "Sure, thanks."

The two teleported into Peter's neighborhood. Maisie rolled her eyes as she did every time Peter insisted that he go in first to see if May was in his room. He wanted to keep his identity a secret, especially from May, and teleporting blindly into his room with her to see it wasn't the best way to do that. She stood with her arms crossed as Peter scaled the building, slowly opening the window to his bedroom and sliding it shut with the back of his foot.

She waited for Peter to flash his lights using the switch next to his door, and when he did, Maisie teleported into his room at the exact moment he turned around. She laughed as she stepped on his foot, scaring him off balance. He let out a scoff which caught in his throat as his eyes landed on something behind her.

"Sorry, Pete—" the sound of something crashing interrupted her sentence, and the girl whirled around with wide eyes.

Ned sat on Peter's bed, the collapsed Lego Death Star at his feet. His jaw was dropped, and he stood up as Maisie and Peter finally saw him. The three stared at one another in terror, all afraid to speak. Maisie cursed herself for taking off her mask already, but she figured that once Peter's identity was figured out, it wasn't too far a leap to hers.

"What was that?" May's voice called, obviously referring to the Death Star's fall.

Peter replied instantly, "Uh! Nothing!"

Ned's eyes moved at record speed to and from Peter and Maisie, "You're the Spider-Man... M-Mischief. From YouTube."

"We're not!" Peter objected, pressing the spider-emblem on his suit so it retracted from his body. Maisie tried not to be distracted by the boy standing in his underwear, and she turned her attention back to Ned.

"You were on the ceiling," Ned argued, then turning to Maisie. "You... poof!"

"No, I wasn't," Peter still objected. "Ned, what are you doing in my room?"

"May let me in, you said we were going to work on the Death Star!" Ned argued, sounding exasperated.

"Why the hell didn't you check the room, Peter?" Maisie whisper-shouted, unfreezing enough to give the boy a glare. "You gave me the all-clear!"

Peter's door opened, startling Maisie enough to force her to react instinctively. She teleported behind the door as May stepped in, seeing only Ned and a clothes-less Peter standing in his room.

"The turkey meatloaf recipe is a disaster!" May laughed, shaking her hair loose from a bun and waving a dishrag in front of her face. Maisie wrinkled her nose as smoke filtered into Peter's room from the kitchen. "Let's go to dinner... Thai? Ned, you want Thai?"

A glazed look came across Ned's face, "Yes."

"No, he's got a thing," Peter tried to play it cool. He forced himself to keep his eyes on May instead of the girl hiding behind his door.

"A thing to do..." Ned nodded in agreement, staring at May. Peter caught Maisie rolling her eyes.

"Okay," May nodded, then she looked at Peter. The woman smirked, "Maybe put on some clothes..."

Peter reached for a grey sweatshirt, a sheepish smile crossing his face. When May finally closed the door again, Peter's frantic expression returned.

"Oh, she doesn't know?" Ned asked, referring to May.

"Nobody knows, Ned," Maisie replied, crossing her arms. She prided herself on being the more collected one of the two teens on the outside, but on the inside, she was still freaking out.

"I mean, Mr. Stark knows because he made our suits, but that's it!" Peter added.

Maisie sent him a look, "How much are we telling him?"

"Tony Stark made you that?" Ned's jaw was on the floor, and his voice lowered. "Are you guys Avengers?"

"No!" Maisie replied at the same time Peter said, "Yeah, basically!"

Maisie took a step closer to Ned, "Look, you can't tell anybody, okay? It has to be a secret."

"A secret?" Ned looked to be having trouble comprehending the idea. "Why?"

"You know what May's like!" Peter answered, stepping in line with Maisie. "If she finds out people try and kill me every single night, she's not going to let me do this anymore. Come on, Ned, please."

"Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay," Ned replied, sighing. "I'll level with you. I don't think I can keep this a secret. This is the greatest thing that's ever happened to me!"

Peter groaned, running a hand through his hair before he replied, "Ned, May cannot know. I cannot do that to her right now, you know? I mean, everything that's happened with her, I... Please."

Ned kept silent, and Maisie took it as a chance to speak up. Her voice was quiet, but solemn, "I don't know what my dad would do if he found out. I... I don't think he'd kick me out, you know, because he's my dad and everything, but I'm honestly not sure anymore."

Peter reached over and took her hand, squeezing it once.

"Okay," Ned sighed, nodding in determination. "Okay, I swear I'll keep it a secret."

"I can't believe this is happening right now," Maisie shook her head in disbelief.

"Can I try your suit on?" Ned asked Peter, a hopeful glimmer in her eye. Maisie couldn't help it, she laughed.

"No," Peter shook his head, ushering Ned toward the door.

"How does it work? Is it magnets? How do you shoot the strings?" Ned rambled, then his eyes widened and he turned to Maisie, "How do you teleport? Were you born with it? Are you a mutant? Is Maisie even your real name?"

Maisie kept laughing, shaking her head at the boy, "We'll tell you about it at school tomorrow, okay?"

"Great, okay, cool," Ned almost left through the door, but he paused, eyes wide. "Wait! How do you guys do this and the Stark Internship?"

The two superheroes stared at him before Peter finally responded, "Dude, this _is_ the Stark Internship."

"Ohhhh," Ned understood, and Peter shoved him out the door, closing it behind him.

Maisie crossed her arms, raising an eyebrow, "Smooth."

Peter groaned, jumping onto his bed, "What are we going to do?"

"Hope Ned doesn't tell everyone our secret identities, and if he does, find a new place to live?" Maisie landed on the bed, forcing him to move over. She smirked as she heard his stomach grumble, "Hungry? Even after that churro?"

Peter sighed, standing up, "Yeah, I guess we're having Thai."

When Maisie didn't move, Peter sent her a questioning look.

"I'm good," she waved him off. She didn't like it when they went out to eat. She knew money wasn't great for the Parkers, though it wasn't exactly bad either, but she didn't like the idea of them paying for her meal, and May always did. "I think I'll just go home."

Peter frowned, knowing why she changed her mind, "Maisie, it's fine, just don't go home, alright?"

"I've got leftovers, you know," she shrugged. "I've got mac and cheese. I'll be fine, Pete."

"Get up, or I'll call May in here right now," Peter crossed his arms.

"As much as I'd love to take a threat seriously from a boy standing in his boxers," Maisie smirked, "I'm going to have to call your bluff. I'm still wearing my suit, idiot."

"May!" Peter's voice rang throughout the apartment. "Maisie's coming with us to dinner!"

Her eyes widened, and she stood up, "Peter—"

"Sounds great, honey! I love that girl!" May called back. Maisie blushed as she heard the woman's compliment, and Peter beamed with pride.

"Here, you have clothes here for this exact reason," Peter gestured at the drawer of Maisie's clothes. Second from the bottom.

The girl's stomach made a sound, and Peter grinned in triumph.

"Fine," Maisie couldn't hide her grin. "But, next time, mac and cheese."

******

The next day, Maisie and MJ were in the girl's locker room getting ready for gym class. Maisie finished tying her hair into a ponytail when a taller girl bumped into her.

"Oh, sorry Maisie," Liz put a hand on her arm, giving her an apologetic smile.

Maisie smiled back, waving her off, "No big deal."

"Oh, hey, I was going to ask!" the girl's eyes brightened as she remembered something. "I know Washington is only like a week away, but I asked Mr. Harrington if you could come along as our manager? You've always been the best at the times, and I know since you're friends with Ned and MJ, well, and Peter, but since he's not going—"

Maisie nodded, interrupting her, "I'd love to go! Unlike Peter, I have the sense to be able to take off some time from the internship."

"Great! I'll text you the details, I think I have your number... Oh, and there's a party at my house tonight!" Liz turned to MJ, too. "You guys should both come, it's gonna be great."

"I don't know—" MJ began, but Maisie interrupted.

"Sounds great, Liz, we'll definitely stop by," she smiled.

"Awesome," Liz nodded, turning to leave. "See you then!"

MJ rolled her eyes and took out a book from her locker, 'Of Human Bondage.' Maisie gave her a look, raising an eyebrow, but MJ elbowed her in the stomach and followed Liz out to the gym, leaving Maisie laughing behind her.

The class was led out to the bleachers were they were supposed to watch a short video describing the fitness challenge they were attempting that day. Maisie and MJ took seats behind Peter and Ned, giving them a quick wave as they sat down. When Captain America came up on screen, Peter had to force himself to remain facing forward.

Maisie heard Ned's whisper to Peter, "Do you know him, too?"

"Yeah, we met," Peter's voice was low enough that Maisie was confident no one besides Ned and her super-hearing could hear him. "Maisie stole his shield."

Ned's head turned so his wide eyes landed on Maisie, jaw dropped. She smirked and gave a nonchalant shrug. MJ didn't look up from her book.

"What?" Ned whisper-yelled.

MJ shushed him.

"Today, my good friend, your gym teacher," the Steve Rogers on the screen pointed to the side opposite where Coach Wilson was standing, "will be conducting the Captain America Fitness Challenge."

Maisie leaned forward to whisper to Peter, "I can't believe the government talked him into doing this shit. It's kinda sad."

Peter snorted, "There's no way Mr. Stark let this go away, I bet he made T-shirts or something."

"I would," Maisie nodded.

"Thank you, Captain," Coach Wilson said as the video ended. "I'm pretty sure this guy's a war criminal now, but whatever, I have to show these videos. It's required by state. Let's go."

The class dispersed, and Maisie stood up to try her luck at the rope climbing. As Spider-Man's partner, she figured that it would only be a matter of time before she'd have to climb up one of his webs to save her life.

Unfortunately, Flash followed her, getting in line behind her.

"Oh, for Christ's sake..." Maisie groaned, rolling her eyes at him.

"So, Margaret," Flash began, smirking. "May I call you Margaret?"

"If I can call you Eugene," Maisie shot back, taking a hold of her rope.

Flash frowned, but he continued, "So, I see that you and Parker are getting close. Did you just start to feel bad for him?"

Maisie glanced over at Peter holding Ned's feet as he attempted sit-ups. Peter locked eyes with the girl and rolled his eyes, letting her know that he could hear. Maisie smirked.

"Flash, trust me," Maisie pulled herself up the beginning of the rope, finding it a lot easier than she assumed it would be. "The only person I feel bad for is you."

She climbed the rope, trying not to make it look too obviously easy for her as she hit the bell at the top and slowly brought her way back down. Her feet hit the mat with a graceful dismount, not giving Flash another look as she left him to try to make it up the rope himself.

Maisie crossed the bleachers as she made her way over to where MJ was laying on one of the sit-up mats, reading her book instead of following the exercise. She was interrupted by Liz's voice carrying across the gym.

"Maisie! Come here!" she called, a mischievous smile on her face. "We're playing 'F, Marry, Kill,' and we can't decide..."

"Speak for yourself!" Betty giggled. "See, for me, it'd be F Thor, marry Iron Man, and kill Hulk."

Charles, one of Liz's friends, rolled his eyes, "What about The Spider-Man?"

"It's just 'Spider-Man,'" Maisie spoke up. Inwardly, she scolded herself, and she played dumb, "Isn't it?"

She could feel eyes on her back, and she knew that Peter was watching the conversation.

"Did you guys see that bank security cam on YouTube?" Liz gushed. "He fought off four guys!"

"Mischief was there, too, you know," Betty crossed her arms, "and she's got real superpowers."

It took all her energy to not turn around to look at Peter. The desire to gloat was hanging off the tip of her tongue. She could almost feel the eye roll from behind her.

"I'm not gay, but if I were..." Betty trailed off, shrugging. Maisie's eyes widened.

"I just really respect Spider-Man, that's all," Liz defended, pushing a lock of hair behind her ear.

"Oh my God, you're totally crushing on him!" Charles realized, pointing with an accusatory look.

"No way," Betty shook her head, laughing.

"Oh, come on, guys! I mean, kind of..." Liz turned to Maisie. "Back me up, Maisie!"

The three turned to look at her expectantly, and Maisie floundered for an answer, "Er, yeah. I mean, he's, uh, really brave and stuff. I bet he's a nice guy."

Maisie heard an amused scoff behind her, and she wasn't sure if it were Peter or Ned. Her money was on the former.

"He's probably, like, thirty," Betty wrinkled her nose.

"You don't even know what he looks like. What if he's, like, seriously burned?" Charles pointed out, ever the rational one.

Liz shook her head, "I wouldn't care. I'd still love him for the person he is on the inside."

Maisie refrained from checking Peter's expression, knowing how he must be feeling. It wasn't a secret he had a crush on Liz, and there was no way he wasn't filled with all sorts of emotions he couldn't exactly express.

"Peter knows Spider-Man!" Ned spoke up. His voice carried across the whole room, and the class immediately stopped what they were doing.

Maisie and Peter whipped around, sending identical looks of shock at their friend, Maisie glared, "Ned—"

"No, no I don't, I don't—" Peter spoke at the same time.

He was interrupted as Ned continued, "They're friends!"

At that moment, Flash landed from his climb on the rope, "Yeah, like Coach Wilson and Captain America are friends."

Maisie and Peter locked eyes, and the boy tried to explain, "I-I've met him a couple of times. Uh, Maisie did too! Yeah, a couple times, but it's just through the Stark Internship..."

"Yeah," Maisie glared at Ned, "but we're really not supposed to talk about it."

Ned looked down, shame settling on his face. The girl almost felt bad, but it passed quickly.

"Well, that's awesome," Flash nodded, sarcastic. "Hey, you know what? You should invite him to Liz's party!"

Liz nodded, staring curiously at Peter, "Yeah, I'm having people over tonight. You're more than welcome to come."

Peter's eyes were wide, "Having a party?"

"Yeah, it's gonna be dope," Flash zeroed in on Peter, scoffing. "You should really invite your personal friend Spider-Man!"

Peter stuttered to find an answer, but Liz spoke up before he could, "It's okay, I know Peter's way too busy for parties anyway, so..."

Maisie narrowed her eyes, trying to figure out why the girl was being so passive-aggressive. Then, she remembered Peter opting out of the Washington trip.

"Come on, he'll be there," Flash continued. "Right, Parker?"

Peter fumbled for something to say, but again, he was saved by the bell ringing. Class was over, and the students left to go change out of their gym clothes.

As soon as everyone was out of earshot, Peter and Maisie turned to Ned with matching looks of exasperation and fury.

"Ned, what the hell was that?" Maisie whisper-yelled.

"I was helping Peter out," Ned defended. "Didn't you hear? Liz has a crush on him!"

Peter paused, considering his words, but Maisie scoffed, "She has a crush on Spider-Man, not Peter! Outing our secret identities for a date that would never work out is pretty much the most amateur—"

"Dude, you're Avengers," Ned scoffed. "If anyone has a chance with a senior, it's you two."

A moment passed, and Peter looked up at Ned with a small smile. Ned returned it instantly, and Maisie looked between the two with disgust on her face.

"I will never understand boys," the girl breathed, shaking her head.

******

Maisie stuck by MJ's side, grabbing a cup of punch from the snack table. She tried to ignore Flash's horrible music from the corner of the room. The two arrived approximately fifteen minutes previously; not too early, not too late. Liz was a nice enough host, but she flitted from each group like the social butterfly she was, not spending too much time with any one party.

While MJ was gathering ingredients for her snack of toast and jam, Maisie stared out at the group of people. Her gaze landed on the front door where Ned and Peter finally arrived. Her eyes narrowed at the sight, and she downed her punch, almost wishing it were something stronger. She'd had alcohol before, stolen from her dad's stores that he'd never notice, but she'd never felt a true desire to drink any before she started her superheroing in New York.

Using her superhearing, she heard Ned ask, "You have the suit, right?"

Peter glanced around for prying eyes before pulling up the sleeve of his shirt enough to see the fabric of the suit underneath, "Yeah."

Ned beamed, "This is gonna change our lives."

Maisie frowned, but said nothing. She and Peter already had the argument about whether or not he should show up as Spider-Man, and she thought she made her feelings perfectly clear on the subject.

_"God, Peter. You talk a big game about being taken seriously, but this is ridiculous!" Maisie crossed her arms, pacing the length of Peter's room._

_"It's just one party! And Liz will be there—" Peter argued, gesturing wildly with his hands._

_Maisie shook her head, "Right. Liz, oh, how could I forget? That changes everything!"_

_Peter paused, "Really?"_

_"No," Maisie shot back. She stopped for a moment and took a breath before turning back to Peter, "Spider-Man and Mischief... they aren't party tricks. Nothing and no one is worth losing what we have here, Peter."_

_He was quiet, contemplating her words._

_The girl sighed, running a hand through her hair. When Peter didn't reply, she said, "I'll see you at the party."_

_She teleported back to her own house, and Peter was left alone in his room._

Maisie came back to reality as MJ got Peter's and Ned's attention, "I can't believe you guys are at this lame party."

She finished spreading jam onto her piece of toast, offering Maisie the other half that she took without a word.

Ned looked at her in confusion, "But you're here, too."

Peter was looking at Maisie, and she stared back, gaze unwavering.

"Am I?" MJ asked, taking a bite of her toast.

With that, the girl turned and left the two boys in a state of confusion. Maisie simply shrugged, nodding at Ned, "Cool hat."

"Thanks," Ned looked proud, and his cheeks reddened a bit. "It gives me confidence."

"Well, it looks great," Maisie agreed, taking a sip of her punch. Peter avoided her eye, and she frowned.

"Hey guys!" a cheery voice greeted. Liz appeared behind Maisie, coming to stand in front of the boys. "I'm so glad you could make it! Cool hat, Ned."

Ned beamed, looking at Peter in triumph. The boy didn't notice though, too busy staring at Liz.

"What a great party," Peter complimented, gesturing awkwardly at the groups of people.

"Thanks," Liz smiled, and she looked like she was going to continue, but the sound of glass breaking interrupted her. Her eyes darted to a group of people in her living room, and she winced, "Oh, my parents will kill me if anything's broken, I gotta—"

"Yeah," Peter replied, head bobbing up and down at a rapid pace.

"Have fun!" she called as she retreated back into the party.

"Bye," Ned and Peter responded in sync, staring after her.

Maisie took a long sip of her punch.

"Dude, what are you doing? She's here!" Ned gestured at Liz, "Spider it up!"

Maisie had enough, and she started to walk away.

"No, wait!" Peter called, grabbing Maisie's arm. He sighed, turning back to Ned, "Sorry, but I can't do this. Spider-Man's not a party trick, okay?"

Maisie pursed her lips, remembering her words from earlier.

"Then what are you going to do?" Ned frowned.

"Look, I'm just gonna be myself..." Peter trailed off, shrugging.

Ned sighed, "Peter, no one wants that."

Maisie and Peter sent him a look, "Dude..."

Interrupting their conversation, Flash used a microphone to call out, "Penis Parker! What's up?" He played a honking sound on the DJ station, and Maisie knew it would only get worse. "So, where's your pal, Spider-Man? Let me guess, in Canada with your imaginary girlfriend?"

He played the honking noise again, and Maisie fumed. She knew she could silence the boy with a flick of her hand, but she felt Peter's quick grip on her wrist and it calmed her. They had to take it if they wanted to keep their identity a secret.

"That's not Spider-Man, that's just Ned in a red shirt!" Flash laughed, and the rest of the crowd did too.

"C'mon, Pete," Maisie sighed, pulling on his arm and out the door. Ned protested, but Maisie sent him a look, silencing him.

Once they were out of sight, she teleported the two of them to the roof. Peter still looked distraught, but more annoyed than actually hurt by any of Flash's comments. He fumbled with the sleeve of his shirt, revealing his Spider-Man suit.

"Peter, you know I'm right," Maisie sighed, knowing what he was thinking.

"Yeah, I know," he sighed. Peter was staring through the window at the party, seeing Ned looking lost without Peter or Maisie by his side. Then, he saw Liz in the corner of the room, talking to a large group of people. He could make himself look so cool if he just did this one thing, but showing up as Spider-Man meant compromising himself in the process. He'd be selling himself out, for what? Popularity?

Something interrupted his internal battle; a bright blue light, looking like an explosion across town, took his focus. Maisie's eyes widened, having seen it, too. She disappeared and reappeared a moment later, her Stark suit on.

"Okay, now you can use the suit," Maisie smirked, pulling her mask over her nose as Peter was already stripping his outer layer of clothes off.

Maisie teleported them to the site of the explosion a moment later, ensuring they were hidden before attempting to move closer. Peter started to scale the side of a bridge over a small stream as Maisie scanned the bank of the river for any sign of life. A few cars sat idling with their headlights turned off while five men crowd around the back of a white van. One of the men held up a large gun and shot it at a nearby car, causing it to erupt in a small explosion of blue light. Maisie glanced up at the bridge and nodded once at Peter when he looked at her; they were both thinking the same thing: the weapons were just like what they saw at the ATM robbery destroying Delmar's store.

"Now, this is crafted from a reclaimed sub-Ultron arm straight from Sokovia," the man with the gun smirked at his small crowd. He handed the gun to a brown-skinned man watching hesitantly from the side. "Here, you try."

"Man, I wanted something low-key," he passed the gun back to him. "Why're you trying to upsell me?"

"Okay, okay, okay. I got what you need, all right? I got tons of great stuff here. One sec..." the man turned to the van, and Maisie had to move to get a clear look at the inside. Peter crawled closer from the side of the bridge, and his eyes widened at the sight of several different weapons and other machinery they had in the back. Maisie frowned; _yep, this was definitely illegal._

Maisie frowned, mumbling to herself, "Where the hell do these guys get this alien tech?"

She heard Peter's whispered response through the comms in her suit, " _This must be where the ATM robbers got their stuff!_ "

"Look, I just need something to stick up somebody, I'm not trying to shoot them back in time," the buyer continued, shaking his head at the unique weaponry.

Suddenly, a loud yodeling sound started to echo throughout the space, making Maisie's eyes widen in shock. She froze in her place, slowly turning her head up to where Peter was fumbling with his ringing phone. Maisie looked back at the weapons dealers as they pulled guns on the buyer.

"What the hell was that?" one guy said, gesturing at him with the gun. "Did you set us up?"

Unsurprisingly, Maisie heard a soft thud of Peter's feet on the ground, and his voice interrupted the threats.

"Hey, hey, come on! If you're gonna shoot at someone, shoot at me!" Peter said, gesturing casually to himself.

Maisie shrugged and appeared next to him, "Feel free not to shoot at me."

The guy with the gun didn't take her suggestion, and he pointed the gun at the two superheroes. Before he could shoot, Spider-Man shot a web at it and pulled it out of his hand. Mischief teleported to the van and scanned the inside of it, trying to find something she could use to incriminate the group of weapons dealers. Her eyes landed on a gun with an energy core glowing bright purple. Her eyebrows furrowed as she remembered a similar picture of something glowing purple from her past, stopping her in her tracks. Before she could move again, an electrical punch landed on the side of her head. Maisie flew through the air before slamming against the bridge twenty feet away. She was unconscious before she hit the ground.

Peter landed with a thud from the same weapon a moment later, but he shook out of it quickly, rushing to his feet. He watched as the criminals sped away in the van.

"Ugh!" Peter glared at the retreating vehicle. "C'mon, Maiz, we gotta—"

He finally noticed her state, and he winced, noticing the blood trickling out of a small cut in her head with a bruise already forming. His eyes widened in concern, kneeling down next to her. Peter felt for a pulse, which was there, and he scolded himself for thinking the worst for a second.

"You'll be okay, you'll be okay," he repeated, nodding. "I'll be right back, I gotta get them!"

Peter jumped up, using his webs to follow in pursuit of the illegal alien weapons dealers.

******

Maisie woke to the sound of repulsor technology, and she thought she was dreaming. Her head was throbbing, and when she reached up to feel for the massive bruise on her head, she came back with blood on her fingertips.

Iron Man set her down next to Peter who was sitting maskless and soaking wet on a jungle gym, then hovered in the air next to them, the gold reflecting off the moon's light.

"What happened?" Maisie asked him, wincing. She placed a cool hand on her head, and she felt slightly better. 

Peter twisted his mask, squeezing the water out of it as he went into a rushed explanation of chasing the weapons van and the man with the wings intercepting him and then dropping him in a lake. Maisie listened to the best of her ability, but she couldn't stop grimacing every time she moved her head. The severe concussion would probably be gone over the next day or so, thanks to her superhealing, but she definitely needed some painkillers as soon as possible.

"And then he just, he just, like, swooped down like a monster and he picked me up and, uh, he took me up, like, a thousand feet and just dropped me!" Peter exclaimed. "How'd you find me? Did you put a tracker in my suit or something?"

"God, Pete, can you just take it down, like, three decibels?" Maisie rubbed the side of her head.

"Sorry," he apologized, wincing.

"I put everything in your suits, including this heater," Mr. Stark replied, and Maisie turned to see steam rolling off of Peter as the cold water evaporated.

He sighed, "Oh, that's better. Thanks."

"What were you two thinking?" Mr. Stark's voice shifted back into his usual authoritative one, and Maisie had the urge to roll her eyes like the teenager she was.

"The guy with the wings is obviously the source of the weapons, we gotta take him down!" Peter gestured wildly as he explained his motives.

"Take him down now, huh?" Mr. Stark sounded mocking, and Maisie frowned. "Steady, Crockett, there are people who handle this sort of thing."

"The Avengers?" Maisie looked unconvinced.

"No, no. This is a little below their pay grade," Iron Man's head shook as he waved her off.

"Anyway, Mr. Stark, you didn't have to come all the way out here, I was fine. I had that," Peter tried.

Maisie turned on him, "You just told me your parachute opened below you and you almost drowned in a lake."

"And, I'm fine!" Peter exclaimed, forcing Maisie to wince again. He lowered his voice, "Sorry."

"As adorable as that would've been to see in person," Iron Man's faceplate opened, revealing nothing in the suit. "I'm not here."

Maisie sighed, _Of course not_.

"You're lucky this place has WiFi, or you'd be toast right now," Mr. Stark continued speaking through the armor. "Look, forget the flying vulture guy."

"Why?" Peter frowned.

"Why?" Mr. Stark scoffed. "Because I said so!"

Peter remained silent, and Maisie bit her tongue.

"Apologies for the volume, Little Red," Mr. Stark sighed before turning back to Peter's stubborn face. "Look, just stay close to the ground. Build up your game helping little people, like that lady that bought you the churro. Can't you just be a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man?"

"But I'm ready for more than that now!" Peter replied. Maisie rubbed her head, wondering if she was ready for more than that, too.

"No, you're not," Iron Man's faceplate closed.

Maisie couldn't help it, "That's not what you thought when you kidnapped us to go fight Captain America in Germany."

"Hey, you came voluntarily, if I remember correctly," the suit pointed at Maisie.

"I told you I had homework," Peter mumbled.

"Whatever, point is: you guys are kids," Mr. Stark sighed. "For now, leave this kind of stuff to the adults. Go to your football games, pep rallies, get detention, I don't care, just be a kid. And, listen to me, if you come across those weapons again, call Happy."

The sound of an engine revving caused confused looks to fall upon the teens' faces, and Peter asked, "Wait, are you driving?"

"You know, it's never too early for you to be thinking about college," Mr. Stark avoided the question. "I've got some pull at MIT. End call."

Maisie considered the thought for a moment. Her father had never talked to her about going to a college other than where he went: Stanford University. She smiled at the thought of him losing his mind over her applying to MIT.

"No, I don't need to go to coll—Mr. Stark, wait!" Peter called.

" _Mr. Stark is no longer connected_ ," FRIDAY's voice chirped back, and the suit turned and flew away, presumably back to Avengers Tower.

Maisie whipped around, "Oh, I know you didn't just say that you don't need to go to college."

Peter shrugged, "Spider-Man doesn't need to go to college..."

"Can I please be there when you tell May?" the girl sent him a mocking look, and Peter froze. Before he could reply, she continued, rubbing her head. "Where are we anyway? I was pretty out of it when Mr. Stark picked me up."

"I don't know, pretty far from the party," Peter sighed. "Do you think you could get us back?"

Maisie sighed and shook her head. The thought of teleporting made her nauseous. "Definitely not. You up for a walk?"

Peter nodded, reluctance written on his face, "Yeah."

Maisie pulled the mask over her mouth and nose as Peter put his over his head, ensuring their identities remained a secret.

The two had only been walking for a few minutes when Peter couldn't keep quiet anymore.

"It's just... what does he mean? 'Stay close to the ground' like what is that?" he exclaimed, shaking his head.

"I think it means pretty much what you think it means," Maisie sighed. "I don't wanna say 'I told you so,' but—"

"He doesn't know what we can handle yet," Peter shook his head. "We just need to prove to him that we can take on the big stuff, just like the rest of the Avengers."

Maisie frowned, "I'm pretty sure that's the opposite of what he said—"

"Whoa, what's that?" Peter pointed at something small laying in the grass on the side of the street they'd been slowly trudging down.

A piece of the same glowing purple weapon that Maisie recognized from the van sat amidst a broken mailbox and other garbage. Maisie assumed the mess was a result of Peter's car chase, and she bent down to get a closer look.

"This was one of the weapons from the van," she supplied, picking it up. She handed the destroyed weapon to Peter, careful to avoid touching the glowing purple core, "This purple thing... it's definitely alien, right?"

Peter nodded, "It's some sort of power source, I think."

He examined it closer as though he'd be able to figure everything out by just staring at it, but Maisie couldn't help but interrupt.

"Nice ringtone, by the way," she flipped her hair over her shoulder. "I'm assuming it was Ned?"

"Shut up," Peter mumbled, grabbing the piece of the weapon and turning back to the road leading home.

"No, seriously though, you didn't have your phone on silent?" Maisie chuckled.

"Just be thankful you weren't the one calling, that would've been bad," Peter breathed a sigh of relief.

Maisie paused for a second, then she called after him, "Wait, why? What's my ringtone?"

Peter didn't respond, only kept walking.

" _Peter!_ "

******

Maisie got home late that night, tossing her Mischief suit in its hiding place before jumping into bed. As she finally felt her headache ease to a dull ache thanks to the four Advil she consumed, her bedroom door flew open.

"Great," she muttered, noticing the furious look on her father's face. She cursed her weak attempt at sneaking in, but she blamed her concussion and lack of teleportation powers for that one.

"Where the hell have you been? You said you'd be home by midnight. It's two o'clock in the morning!" he yelled. If she hadn't been so loud coming in, waking him up, Maisie knew he wouldn't have known the difference.

Maisie's head throbbed, and she tried her best to not let the man's volume make her headache worse, "I'm sorry, I lost track of time."

"This is unacceptable behavior, Margaret," he glared, shaking his head.

 _Not like you would know,_ Maisie thought. _You hadn't noticed the first thousand times I've done this._

"I said I was sorry," Maisie attempted to hide an eye roll.

"Well, 'sorry' isn't good enough!" he shouted. Maisie winced again at the sound, wishing she was having this argument at any other time. Still, it wasn't anything she wasn't used to hearing from her father.

"Look, you don't pay enough attention to me to warrant this kind of response," Maisie sighed, looking exhausted. "So, why don't you just go back to ignoring me so I can get some sleep."

"Don't you dare speak to me like that!" her father was seething, but Maisie couldn't bring herself to regret her words. She was tired. "Know your place, or the next sleep you get will be on a city bench."

"Goodnight," she snapped, turning back to her bed.

The sound of Maisie's father's angry footsteps echoed throughout the apartment, but she tried not to dwell on it as she finally laid down to get the rest she so desperately craved. He may have been bluffing this time, but Maisie dreaded the moment when he finally kept his promise of kicking her out.

******

Maisie woke up the next morning still recovering from her headache, and she decided that school was not in the books for her that day. Just another thing for her father to add to the list of things she was doing wrong.

Peter texted her later that day that the guys from the arms deal showed up at school after he and Ned took a closer look at the power source of the destroyed weapon they found. The boy proudly reported that he bugged them using one of his suit's spider-trackers.

Maisie was conflicted by his decision, and she told him over the phone after school that day, "What about what Mr. Stark said? About telling Happy once we saw these guys or those weapons again?"

" _He didn't help last time, and besides, we gotta show Mr. Stark what we can do_ ," Peter defended. Ned mumbled something incoherent from the other line, and Peter said that the tracker finally stopped. " _Maryland? Why'd they stop in Maryland?_ "

"Evil lair?" Maisie joked, but Peter relayed the guess to Ned.

" _They have a lair?_ " Ned asked.

" _Dude, a gang with alien guns run by a guy with wings?_ " Peter scoffed, speaking as though the answer were obvious. " _Yeah, they have a lair._ "

" _Badass_ ," Maisie could hear the smile in Ned's voice. " _But, how are you gonna get there? It's like three hundred miles away_."

A moment passed in silence over the phone. Then, Peter had a suggestion.

" _It's not too far from D.C_."

******

Two days later, Maisie watched as Peter jogged up to the school bus heading for Washington D.C. with the Academic Decathlon students. Maisie was one of only three people, including Peter, who knew why he really showed up that morning, and it wasn't to help the team. The thought made her frown.

On the bus ride, Liz quizzed the team on various aspects of the competition sans time, so Maisie got a break. She stared at the tracker on Peter's spider watch, ensuring it didn't move from the Maryland location.

A long time after the bus left the school, she got a phone call. Reading "Happy Hogan" on her phone screen, she winced and answered the phone.

"Hey, Happy," she said, glancing up a few seats in front of her where Peter was sitting. He whipped around immediately, locking eyes with her.

" _Got a blip on my screen here_ ," he replied, sounding suspicious. " _You and the other one leave New York?_ "

Peter muttered something under his breath and moved to the back of the bus where Maisie was sitting, "Tracker."

Maisie rolled her eyes and returned to the phone call, "It's a school trip to Nationals for Academic Decathlon. And, um... about that weapons thing—"

Peter snatched the phone from her hand, "Look, Happy, I gotta say, you tracking us without our permission is a serious lack of privacy." Maisie raised an eyebrow and gestured at the spider tracker. Peter shook his head, "That's different."

" _Look, it doesn't seem like a big deal, but I'm watching you two. Don't get into any trouble there, alright?_ " Happy lectured.

Peter rolled his eyes, but Maisie gave him a stern look, grabbing her phone back, "Got it, thanks Happy!"

When she hung up, Peter scoffed, "Suck up."

Maisie glared at him, lowering her voice to a whisper, "Look, just promise me that we'll call Happy if the weapons guys start to do anything criminal-y, okay?"

"'Course," Peter smiled. The bus slowly rolled to a stop, and he looked up, "Oh, hey! We're here!"

The Decathlon team got off their bus and stared at their hotel in wonder before grabbing their bags and following Mr. Harrington inside. Maisie would be rooming with MJ, something she was excited about, and she stuck by her side as they received their room keys. As they arrived at their rooms, they discovered Peter and Ned were a few rooms down, and Liz and Cindy were across the hallway. Thankfully, Flash was far away from both their rooms.

******

"So, what's the deal with you and Peter?" a sly voice asked, feigning nonchalance.

Maisie stopped searching for her toothbrush in her small duffel bag to look up at MJ in confusion. "What do you mean?" 

MJ crossed the hotel room they were sharing, flinging herself onto her bed, "You two are always disappearing, then reappearing together at the same time."

Maisie froze, trying to find something to say, "We're friends, we just hang out. It's no big deal."

"Mhm," MJ didn't sound convinced. "Just friends."

"Yeah, I mean, we're not, like, together, if that's what you're asking," Maisie laughed nervously, shaking her head. She was uncomfortable already... it wasn't often, or ever, that MJ brought up the subject of boys. Let alone the fact that the boy was Peter.

MJ couldn't help the smirk, "Yeah, got it."

A rapid knock sounded at their hotel room door, and Maisie sprung toward it in order to escape MJ's interrogation, "Hey, what's up?"

Peter stood at the door, a maniacal grin on his face, "We figured out how to—oh! Hey, Michelle!"

MJ waved before turning back to grab a book on her nightstand.

Maisie stepped outside the door before she responded, "You figured out how to do what?"

"Ned took the tracker out of my suit, so now Mr. Stark can't see if we go after these guys!" Peter explained.

"Whoa, are you serious?" an anxious feeling settled in her stomach.

"Yeah! He can take yours out, too, and then we can finally go take this 'Big Bird' guy down!" he finished, glancing around to make sure no one heard him.

Maisie furrowed her eyebrows, "Wait, I thought we were going to call Happy the next time we saw them try to make a move? Mr. Stark said—"

"Look, I'm sick of Mr. Stark treating us like we're kids all the time, okay?" Peter exclaimed, overcome with frustration. Maisie shot him a look.

"He's treating us like we're kids because we are kids, Peter. Just 'cause we have powers doesn't mean we're the only ones who can do anything to help!" she replied pointedly.

"When you can do the things we can, and we don't, and then bad things happen—" Peter was interrupted.

"We aren't doing nothing," Maisie shook her head. "Mr. Stark trusts us to do the _right_ thing, not something impulsive that will make things worse."

Peter was quiet, and the two stood in silence for a moment.

"You're right," Peter started to back toward his room, nodding determinedly. "He expects us to do the right thing."

Maisie breathed a sigh of relief as she called after him, "You'll tell me if the tracker on the weapons guys starts to move again, right? We can call Happy together."

"Yeah," Peter nodded again, and the determined look hadn't left his face. "See you in the morning?"

Maisie smiled, "You've got a Decathlon to win."

Peter paused in front of his door before entering, Maisie furrowed her brows, but he continued on as though nothing happened.

"Goodnight, Maisie."


	5. How to Be a Hero

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spider-Man & Mischief: Homecoming Pt. 2

The next morning, Peter was nowhere to be found.

Liz was totally freaking out, trying to call his phone and figure out what they were going to do about the Decathlon. Mr. Harrington called May and told her about how they were having the local authorities look out for him, but that they had to attend the competition and he hoped that Peter would show up in time. Flash was ecstatic to have his place back as Peter's replacement, but everyone else was irritated and somewhat thrown off by his absence.

None more so than Maisie.

"Ned," Maisie said through clenched teeth. "Where is he?"

"I-I don't know—" Ned tried, but Maisie rolled her eyes and latched onto his arm, pulling him away from the crowd.

"I feel like I don't even need to ask, do I?" she raised an eyebrow. "He went after the Bird Guy and the weapons, didn't he?"

Ned didn't respond, but the look in his eyes told her everything she needed to know.

"I'm calling Happy—" Maisie took out her phone, but before Ned could tell her not to, she stopped.

Peter would be utterly screwed if she called Happy to tell him about what he did. After completely disobeying Mr. Stark's instructions and following a weapons deal all the way to Maryland, Maisie wasn't sure what would happen to him.

"You stopped," Ned looked at her phone in confusion.

Maisie glanced up, not answering his obvious question, "If he's not back before Decathlon, I swear to God..."

Ned sighed, nodding, "We'll be fine. Everything will be totally fine."

Maisie nodded, trying to believe it. Something kept pushing to the forefront of her mind, and her chest tightened in annoyance and hurt. Yeah, he'd gone against what Mr. Stark instructed them to do, but after everything, that wasn't the worst part.

Peter had left her behind.

******

The abandoned teen superhero watched with pride as Midtown Tech won the Decathlon National Championship. She couldn't help but feel a little extra smug that they won without the help of Peter, who disappeared without a trace. Maisie tried to call him several times, but they were instructed to keep phones off once inside the Decathlon room.

It wasn't until the team, complete with Flash carrying the large trophy, was approaching the Washington Monument that Ned finally got a call through to Peter.

Maisie was trying to get MJ to come with her on the little tour of the famous monument, but she knew she lost the battle as soon as she mentioned it being built by slaves.

"Fine, enjoy your book, dork," Maisie joked, giving her a light shove as she followed Mr. Harrington toward the entrance. In that moment, she saw Ned put his phone to his ear to say, "Peter?"

The girl rushed toward Ned, and he basically threw the phone at her. She must have looked pretty intimidating, to say the least.

"Ned? You're alive? Look, where's the glowy thing—" Peter sounded frantic over the phone.

"Peter, what the actual hell is wrong with you?" Maisie's voice cut through his, mixed emotions of anger and hurt coming through.

"Maisie, look, I'm sorry, but this is important, the glowy thing is—" Peter tried again.

"Tell him it's safe, it's in my backpack," Ned sighed, placing it on the security conveyor belt to get scanned.

"Ned says it's safe in his backpack," Maisie repeated, furrowing her brows. "And, I'm not done bitching you out yet!"

"Ma'am, the phone needs to be placed on the belt at this time," the security guard gave her a look.

"Peter, we're at the Washington Monument and the security guard guy is telling me to put the phone down, so—" Maisie was interrupted.

"No! Maisie, I need—" Peter was cut off yet again.

"Is that Peter?" Liz asked, grabbing Ned's phone from Maisie.

Maisie tried to remain calm, irrationally upset that Liz took the phone, and she simply placed her small bag on the conveyor belt and passed through the security scanner. She tried her best to ignore whatever conversation Peter and Liz were having before Liz finally put the phone down on the belt and crossed through security with the rest of the team.

"What did he say?" Maisie asked as Liz got into the elevator next to her.

Liz shrugged, "Something about letting Ned's backpack go through the x-ray, I don't know."

Maisie frowned, trying to think of what Peter could've meant.

Just before the elevator doors closed, Flash spoke, "Hey, Mr. Harrington, can I be the one to tell Peter he's expelled?"

Maisie shook her head, "Nope, that job's all mine."

She ignored the elevator tour guide's droning as the lift ascended, focusing more on Peter's frantic words and his complete lack of defense for himself regarding leaving the hotel and abandoning the Decathlon. What was going on with him?

"—and notice how the marble and granite are cut around the stone—" the tour guide lady was interrupted by a sudden bright light erupting around them, shattering the glass atop and surrounding the elevator.

Screams sounded from the group of high schoolers, but Maisie scanned the small room for the source of the small explosion. To her dismay, she watched as Ned threw his backpack into the center of the elevator, a hole burned through it.

Oh, so that's what Peter was trying to warn them about.

Ned and Maisie exchanged knowing looks, but both kept their mouths shut as the group began panicking.

"Oh my God," Charles began, pointing upward. "Look at the ceiling!"

Maisie glanced up, seeing a red-orange streak of burned ceiling creating almost a full circle. There was no way it could continue to hold their weight.

"Just stay calm, everyone," Liz tried to regain command of her team, but there was a nervous edge to her voice that gave her away.

"Okay guys, I know that was scary, but our safety systems are working," the tour guide sounded like she was repeating words from a required safety course. "We are very safe in here."

Maisie counted the number of people in the elevator. If she tried, she could teleport approximately five people out at once, but that's if she's straining herself. She'd definitely have to take two trips, but she was still hung up on one small thing.

In order to save everyone, Maisie would have to reveal her superhero identity.

"Maisie, what are we gonna do?" Ned whispered, resigning himself to a corner.

"I'm going to have to get us out of here, I think—" she whispered back, but something interrupted her.

The tour guide opened a hatch on the top of the elevator, and a park ranger stood atop a floor a few feet above where the elevator was stopped. He held his hand down to help pull someone out. Hope fluttered in Maisie's chest; maybe they could get out without her powers.

She breathed a sigh of relief as Cindy was pulled to safety, and Charles, Abe, and everyone slowly followed suit. Flash pushed Liz out of the way, pushing his foot into Mr. Harrington's open hand in order to get through the hole in the ceiling. To Maisie's annoyance, he was adamant that he brought the trophy with him. As he pushed himself through the hatch in the ceiling, the remaining four people in the elevator felt it shift as though something had finally given way. Maisie locked wide eyes with Ned before checking to see if Flash made it out alright.

As soon as he stepped off of the elevator, it finally broke, sending Mr. Harrington, Ned, Liz, and Maisie in a plunge down toward the bottom of the elevator shaft.

"Give me your hands!" Maisie yelled over their panicked screams.

Oddly, Ned and Liz listened, but before Maisie could latch onto Mr. Harrington, something forced the elevator to stop, and it halted in midair. She looked up and saw strings resembling spider webs attached to the top of the elevator.

Then, all too quickly, they were falling again. Maisie still hadn't let go of the other two's hands, and she considered teleporting them out to safety before coming back for Mr. Harrington. Her mind was racing a million miles an hour. She still had time, Peter could still save them.

Before she could make up her mind, the elevator's free fall ceased, and Spider-Man landed hard in the center of the elevator floor. Spider-Man sent another web up at the top of the elevator shaft, and the momentum caused him to fly toward the ceiling where he held himself steady with his feet, hanging upside down.

As soon as it was evident that Spider-Man was holding the elevator steady, Ned let out a whoop of triumph. Maisie let go of Liz's and Ned's hands, glaring daggers at Peter that she hoped he could see.

"Hey, how are you doing?" Peter cleared his throat and lowered his voice, adding a thicker New York accent. "Don't worry 'bout it, I got you."

Maisie's fingers twitched, forming a fist at her side.

"Yes! Yes!" Ned shouted, almost jumping up and down.

"Hey, hey, big guy, stop moving around so much!" Peter's voice echoed through the elevator, sounding more like his usual tone.

"Sorry, sir," Ned apologized, ensuring Peter's identity remained a secret.

Mr. Harrington looked at Spider-Man, the terror causing him to sound as though he'd just run a marathon, "Your superhero friend with the, uh, t-teleporting coming to get us out of here?"

Peter grunted, holding the weight of the elevator in his hands, "Nope, just me."

Mr. Harrington let out a sigh, and Maisie assumed he just wished he could blink and be out of the terrifying situation they were in. She could definitely relate.

Spider-Man pulled the elevator up until it was level with the floor where the rest of the Decathlon team was waiting, and the park rangers pulled the shattered glass doors open for the rest of the group to exit through. Liz was out first, pushed toward the exit by Mr. Harrington. Then Ned, and then Maisie subtly backed up to allow her teacher to exit before her. As soon as the other three were out, Maisie felt comfortable taking a step toward the exit.

Unfortunately for her, that was exactly when the webs snapped, causing the elevator to continue its free fall down the shaft. Her instincts kicked in as she felt the ground below her disappear. Before she fell too far, she pushed her feet down against the elevator floor and leapt upwards, hand outstretched toward Peter's.

Maisie trusted that he'd catch her. There's no way he'd let her fall, she knew that.

Maisie's trust wasn't misplaced as Spider-Man shot a web around her outstretched hand, catching her with ease. Maisie's body hung by that small thread, but looking at Peter holding her, she wasn't scared.

She was still angry.

"Yeah, I got you," Peter whispered, pulling her the rest of the way up.

As her mouth passed his head, she whispered softly but strongly, "We need to talk."

He didn't respond.

Everyone on the floor stared at Maisie as Spider-Man set her down on the tile floor, ensuring she was safe. She didn't bother looking anything less than peeved that the entire situation happened, and thankfully, the rest of the group attributed it to almost dying. Maisie figured someone might find her lack of fear to be confusing, but she couldn't bring herself to care.

"Thanks, Spider-Man," she chirped, though there was an edge to her voice that she hoped no one besides Peter recognized.

"Yeah, no problem, little lady," and the obnoxious New York accent was back. "Stay safe, kids, and—"

Peter's awkward little speech was cut short by his web snapping, and he fell down into the elevator shaft.

Still, Flash leaned over the side of the shaft, calling out, "Are you really friends with Peter Parker?"

******

After the horrifying incident at the Washington Monument, the bus ride home was full of heartfelt reflections and dramatic recounts of what happened. Everyone was chattering quietly about how Spider-Man had saved them, except for Maisie, who opted to sit near the back of the bus. MJ sat alone farther up, using a small reading light to see her book in the dark. Peter sat next to Ned, though he kept peeking over his seat at Maisie alone in the back.

Eventually, Peter thought he'd get the courage to go up and apologize to her about what happened, but at the same time, he wasn't entirely sorry. He figured she'd be upset if he told her that. The teenage boy turned and looked at her again, and he decided that saying nothing would be worse.

"Hey, move, I gotta talk to Maisie," Peter said, nudging Ned.

Ned's eyes widened, "You're a brave man, Peter."

Peter frowned, "Thanks."

Ned let him out of the seat, and Peter slowly made his way to where Maisie sat. When he reached her, he saw that her eyes were closed and her head rested on her seat. He breathed a sigh of annoyance, realizing he missed his chance, and he turned to leave.

As he turned, he bumped the seat Maisie's head was resting on, and she jerked awake, eyes wide and alarmed.

When she saw it was just him, she exhaled and placed a hand on her heart, "You scared the crap out of me."

Peter's eyes brightened, not hearing any hostility in her voice, "Aren't you supposed to be a superhero?"

Maisie let a steely expression take her face, and any optimism Peter had for the conversation went out the window as she replied, "Aren't we supposed to be a team?"

He was quiet for a moment, glancing around the bus to make sure no one was listening before sitting down in the seat across from her.

"I know, and I'm sorry," he apologized. "It's just... you wanted to wait and talk to Happy, and I knew that something was happening in Maryland, so when I saw the tracker move, I had to go stop it. And I was right! The winged-vulture guy was trying to steal alien tech from a truck in the middle of the night!"

Maisie stared at him, "Well, did you catch him?"

Peter's mouth closed, having nothing to say.

"Where is he? I mean, you were able to stop him from stealing weapons and causing harm to civilians, right? That's why you felt the need to go off without me," she continued, trying hard to keep her voice down. "You must've been able to do it by yourself."

"He got away, okay?" Peter snapped, feeling defensive. "I got locked inside a storage facility after hitting my head, there's nothing I could've done."

Maisie could almost laugh, "Yeah, if only you knew someone who could jump to an entirely different location within seconds."

Peter frowned, "Even if I asked you to come, you wouldn't have."

"That's because I know about the commitment you have to Decathlon," Maisie retorted. "I honestly don't see how you haven't been kicked off the team yet."

"Do you think I care about a high school Decathlon team with everything going on?" Peter exclaimed. He looked around to make sure no one was listening in, "Mr. Stark gave us these suits for a reason. I'm supposed to be a superhero, and I can't see how going to class is going to help me stop the Vulture from hurting any more people."

"Hard for you to be right when Mr. Stark was the one telling you not to go after him," Maisie shot back.

"Which is why I need to prove to him that I'm capable of handling it! Then, he'll see that I'm ready for more..." Peter explained.

Maisie couldn't help but hear the use of the singular "I." It didn't seem that Peter considered them a partnership anymore.

"Well, it seems like you've really got it under control," Maisie kept her face impassive. "Let me know if there's anything sane you need help with. Otherwise, feel free to leave me alone."

Peter's eyebrows furrowed, "What are you—"

"Alright, kids," Mr. Harrington called from the front of the bus. As he spoke, the bus came to a stop, "Your parents are waiting outside to drive you home. See you tomorrow, and oh! I've been told that the school psychologists are prepared to speak with you if you need, you know, psychological therapy."

Maisie grabbed her backpack and jacket from the seat in front of her, pushing past Peter in the process. As she stepped off the bus, she waved goodbye to MJ who went to hug her waiting mother, and she looked around for any sign of her father. After the third time scanning the small crowd of parents, Maisie came to the realization that he wasn't there. Of course he wasn't. It wasn't like she had almost died or anything.

The small amount of hope she had shattered, and she readjusted her backpack on her shoulders. That's what she got for actually having hope... 

As she turned to leave, a hand latched onto her arm and pulled her to the side.

"Maisie, stop being like this, I'm just trying to help!" Peter whispered, eyes wide and pleading. "I don't know what to do, but I have to stop this guy! And I don't want to—"

Maisie's eyes landed on a long-haired brunette looking around for her nephew, and she nodded at her, "Your aunt's looking for you."

Peter glanced in May's direction for a moment. When he turned back, he sounded pained and confused, "Did your dad even come to pick you up?"

Maisie yanked her arm out of his grasp, "See you at school, Pete. If you decide to show up."

He watched her turn a corner out of sight where he assumed she teleported home. He turned and greeted his aunt, trying not to think about what he screwed up with the girl who was supposed to be his partner.

******

Maisie wasn't sure what she was expecting the next day at school, but she knew Peter was given detention for skipping Spanish class, and then he skipped detention. If he kept this up, it wouldn't be much of a surprise for the high-standard school to simply expel him for his actions. She tried not to think about going to school without him.

When night came, Maisie tried to go on patrol without Peter. She managed to stop two muggings and an attempted rape, (she may or may not have sent the attacker to the hospital in a near coma for that one) and she returned a lost dog to its owner ten blocks away. The dog's name was Bruno; he was very sweet.

Still, being on patrol felt wrong without Peter there with her. Every time she ended up on a rooftop staring over Queens, it was like she was missing something. The sense of fulfillment she got from saving someone was still there, but Maisie'd grown used to sharing it with someone else.

Not to mention, Maisie was starting to feel like maybe Peter was right.

Every time she saved a kitten from a tree or stopped a sidewalk mugging, she felt like her powers were being put to waste. Peter was right about one thing, she could be doing so much more.

She'd just been too scared to see what she could really do. She still was.

After pacing across rooftops for hours in the middle of the night, she had talked herself into a fury. Her thoughts were unrelenting as the guilt set in, and Maisie finally teleported home, unable to continue her patrol anymore.

After everything she and Peter had gone through, she had lashed out at him... why? Because he was ready to bring justice to a real-life supervillain, and she wasn't? Maisie threw off her mask, chucking it into her closet with too much force. She ran a hand through her hair, trying to calm herself down. When that didn't work, she lashed out in the only way she knew how: she sent her fist through the wall.

Maisie's eyes widened, sobering immediately. Her father was not going to like that.

"Margaret?" a stunned voice breathed from the doorway.

Maisie didn't turn around, staring with wide eyes at her broken wall. This is not happening, she told herself. He was supposed to have left earlier that day for a business trip.

"Dad, I'm—" she began, stepping away from the wall. When Maisie saw her dad's face, she realized that he wasn't even looking at the wall. He was staring at her suit with a mix of astonishment and disbelief. "Oh no."

"What are you wearing?" he asked, but the betrayal on his face told her that he already knew.

"I can explain—" she tried, stepping forward. Her movements were stiff and uncoordinated for a superhero.

"You're that... that vigilante?" her father's disgusted tone shocked her into taking a step backward.

"I-I—" she choked on her own voice.

The man shook his head, staring at his daughter as though he'd never seen her before, "I can't believe this."

Maisie bit her tongue, not having anything to say.

"No, you... doing this..." he looked furious now. "My daughter would never do this..."

"I am your daughter," Maisie spoke softly. "As much as you wish I weren't."

The man paused. His eyes dulled, staring at his daughter in honest resentment. Maisie felt anger surge in her, and she balled her fists. She could see it clearly now; her father wanted an out. He may have been a decent parent before her mom died, but Maisie could tell that with every passing day, he despised his parental role more and more. Maisie couldn't even remember the last time she talked to him before that night that didn't result in an argument.

"No, you're not," he finally replied. "Not anymore."

Dread filled the empty pit in her stomach, "What?"

"I want you out," he responded. When she didn't move, frozen, he continued. "Now!"

Maisie jumped, then she shook her head, "Dad, no—"

"NOW!" he snapped.

Maisie flinched. Her eyes were dry as she grabbed the closest things to her, hoping they were enough to get her through however long her dad was going to banish her for. She reached for her mask in her closet, and when he saw it, her dad looked away. Maisie could see the look of distaste on his face from where she stood, and she had to look away.

The girl's throat burned, forcing tears back as she spoke, "Dad—"

"Goodbye, Margaret," he interrupted, looking her dead in the eyes.

Only one tear managed to slip down her cheek as she teleported to the first place she could think of.

******

Maisie stood in front of Peter's apartment after having changed out of her suit, trying to decide between teleporting into his room or just knocking on the front door. She checked her phone for the time, and she frowned when it showed her it was a couple minutes past one-thirty in the morning. She wasn't sure if May was working the night shift at the hospital, but she certainly didn't want to wake her if she weren't.

The girl took a deep breath and teleported into Peter's bedroom.

Usually, she'd expect some sort of surprised jump or gasp at her sudden arrival, but she heard nothing of the sort. Maisie looked around the room, and she saw that it was empty. Furrowing her brows in confusion, she put her school bag on the floor of Peter's somewhat messy room. She finally understood when she saw the open window and a head of messy brown curls on the fire escape.

Maisie ducked through the window and sat down next to the boy, but he didn't even look up. The two sat in silence for a moment, staring out at Queens and listening to the sounds of the city. The girl took in his appearance, wrinkling her nose at the sight of pink Hello Kitty pants and an oversized white T-shirt.

"I'm sorry," Peter said, surprising her.

Maisie frowned, "For what?"

Peter sighed, "For everything."

She studied his face for a moment, noticing the red, puffy appearance of his eyes, "Are you okay?"

"Mr. Stark took my suit," he looked down at his hands, sounding crestfallen. At his words, Maisie's heart broke.

"What happened?" she breathed, eyes wide.

"Didn't you look at the news?" Peter laughed humorlessly. "I went to intercept a weapons deal at the Staten Island Ferry, but I... I screwed it up. There was FBI there and everything to take care of it, and I just got in the way. One of the alien weapons malfunctioned and cut the ferry in half."

Maisie inhaled deeply, praying that everyone on the boat ended up okay.

"I tried to hold it together, but everything was falling apart. Then, Mr. Stark showed up and put it back together," Peter wiped his nose, shaking his head. "I could've killed everyone on that ferry, and it would've been all my fault. If Mr. Stark hadn't shown up—"

"Are you okay?" Maisie interrupted.

He finally looked up at her, confused, "What?"

"Are you okay?" she repeated. "I want to make sure you're okay after what happened because though I think what you did was reckless and pretty stupid, you did it because you want to help people, and I don't think that should go unnoticed."

"I'm..." Peter stared at her in awe for a moment. "Thanks."

"What did Mr. Stark say?" she continued, turning to look back out at Queens.

"He said he's taking the suit forever, and that if I'm nothing without the suit, then I shouldn't have it," Peter sniffed, shaking his head. "I've been such an idiot."

Maisie's lips tilted into a sad smile. "You're learning."

Peter nudged her with his shoulder, and the two returned to silence. Maisie stared straight ahead at the city outside his window, feeling her throat close up and tears well in her eyes. She was surprised she'd kept it together this long, but she was finally at her breaking point. Still, Maisie tried to maintain a sense of composure. She sniffed once, rubbing her nose and brushing a tear off her cheek.

"My dad kicked me out," she managed to say. Her voice sounded void of emotion.

Peter turned to stare at her, wide-eyed, "What?"

She turned and looked at her small bag sitting on the floor of Peter's room, "He found out. About Mischief. Then, he kicked me out."

Peter's mouth hung open, unable to comprehend. Maisie just shrugged, wiping another tear away.

"I don't have anywhere to go," she continued. Her voice sounded more vulnerable than she preferred, and she winced, looking down at her lap. "I-I was wondering—"

"Maisie, of course you can stay here," Peter was still recovering from the emotional rollercoaster that was their entire conversation. "I just don't understand—"

"My dad never really spent a lot of time caring about me," Maisie told him. "I don't even know why I'm surprised."

"Because he's your dad! He should... he should..." Peter shook his head, trailing off. His eyes widened as a thought crossed his mind, "You don't think he'd tell people, do you?"

Maisie stayed quiet for a moment. She hadn't even considered that thought. "I have no idea."

Her gaze landed on a plane flying above Queens. The blinking red lights distracted her for a moment, and she wondered if she could teleport aboard a plane like that and just fly away. Maybe she could even just teleport herself to another country and live out her days on a beach with a fantastic view. The girl moved her eyes back to the city in front of her, and she sighed. This was a pretty good view, too, she decided.

Peter turned to face Maisie, catching her attention, "You don't need him. You don't need anyone who just gives up on you like that, seriously."

Maisie smiled at the look of determination and sincerity in his eyes, "I know, Pete. I just..." she sighed, shaking her head. "I don't know how I'm going to get by on my own now."

"You're not on your own," Peter frowned, looking serious. He vowed in that moment that he'd make sure she never felt alone again.

Maisie couldn't comprehend his words, suddenly nervous, "Do I go into foster care, now? I've still got two and a half years until I turn eighteen!"

"Maisie..." Peter tried.

"Oh, God, how am I supposed to pay for food?" her breathing quickened. "Midtown has tuition, how am I supposed to pay tuition for school?"

"Maisie!" Peter grabbed her hand, forcing her to look at him.

Her voice was fragile as she spoke, barely above a whisper, "What?"

"We'll figure it out, I promise," Peter tried to sound more convincing, but it was tougher than he thought it would be. "You're going to stay with us, and second semester just started at school, so your dad already paid for it. You're going to stay with me, and you're going to go to school. After that... we're going to figure it out together, okay?"

Maisie's eyes were wide, and she wished with every fiber of her being that she could believe him, "Okay."

"Okay," Peter nodded, turning back to face the city.

The boy moved his arm so it was around Maisie's shoulders, pulling her closer to him. She tucked her head into the crook of his neck and sighed, wishing she could go back before she screwed everything up that night, and she figured he was thinking the same exact thing. Tears pricked her eyes, and before she knew it, they were streaming down her face without a way to stop them. Every moment of pent up frustration, anger, and hopelessness unleashed into Peter Parker's shoulder. Peter's heart ached at the sound of the girl's crying, and he didn't think he hated anyone more than Maisie's father.

He wrapped his arms around the girl in a hug, "It's okay. You're gonna be fine."

She hugged him tighter, praying he was right.

Eventually, she picked her head up, sniffling as her tears came to a stop. With a hoarse voice she asked, "Why do you smell like garbage?"

******

The following day, Maisie transported the rest of her favorite clothes into her drawer in Peter's room, and her other essential belongings into his closet. The Parkers didn't have a guest room, so she was currently crashing on the couch in their living room, but she was still so thankful they took her in. The more Peter talked about how he and May were going to be there for her, the more guilty Maisie felt. She knew that May maintained a humble living, being a single parent of a teenage boy. That, and Midtown Tech tuition certainly cost a lot. There was no way she could continue to sit by while May provided all these things.

As Maisie fell asleep every night, she promised herself that it was temporary, and that her father was going to come back for her. And if he didn't, she told herself that she'd beg for it back. Maisie let out a scoff of disdain every time she thought it; how did her life get so screwed up that she had to beg for her horrible father to allow her to live with him again?

Maisie woke up the next morning feeling just as guilty as when she fell asleep, but still, she went to school alongside Peter. His mood wasn't doing well for her guilt either, and although she knew he tried to stay upbeat and maintain his usual Peter attitude, Maisie could tell that he was crushed about what happened at the ferry.

When they arrived at school that day, Peter was called to the principal's office, and Mr. Morita gave him a long-winded speech that apparently resulted in several weeks of detention, but no expulsion. They were thankful of that, and Maisie knew he'd try harder to just be a teenager again, despite the fact that he didn't really have a choice anymore.

Maisie went through the day in a haze, trying not to remember that she wasn't allowed in her own home anymore. She wondered if her dad was as torn up about kicking her out as she was, or if he was already getting rid of the furniture in her room. The only thing getting her through the day was the selfish understanding that Peter was just as miserable as she was. At least they could get through it together.

She barely registered Peter sitting back down in his seat after coming back from the bathroom. His shell-shocked face paired with a hesitant smile prompted her curiosity.

"What?" she whispered, a questioning look on her face.

Peter's smile grew as he spoke, "I just asked Liz to homecoming..."

"What?" Maisie's mouth hung open. "She said yes?"

"Yeah, that was my first reaction, too," Peter replied, shaking his head in disbelief.

Maisie almost pouted, "What about our Star Wars marathon?"

Peter gave her a look, "Are you serious—"

"Of course not," Maisie shoved him, laughing lightly. "But, now I definitely have to go, too. I'll just have to get a dress..."

"Oh, God, Maisie you have to help me," Peter's eyes were wide. "I have no idea what to do at a dance, what am I supposed to do?"

Maisie chuckled, "Settle down, you have both me and May to help. You're gonna be great."

******

When they got home that day, Peter ran into the apartment, sliding across the floor. He saw May and looked somewhat reassured.

"I need your help," he said. May looked nervous for a second, unsure of what he needed help with.

Maisie moved to stand next to him, "Liz said she'd go to homecoming with him."

May understood, nodding, "Alright, Peter. Let's get out that suit."

Maisie felt uncomfortable as Peter started getting ready for the dance with May's help, just a bit out of place as she helped him tie a Windsor knot from a YouTube video.

The girl retreated into Peter's room and grabbed the dress she picked out from the store on the way home from school that day. Understandably, the stores lacked a great selection so close to the date of homecoming, but she was still proud she found a cute dress so last minute. The dress had a halter top that was tight at the chest but flowed out at the hips, and ended just above her knees. She smiled at the color that caught her eye when she saw it in the store: bright red, not unlike Spider-Man's suit and the fading streaks in her hair. Borrowing May's hair curler, she put light waves into her hair, pinning one of the strands back into a small braid. As she studied her appearance in the mirror, she nodded in satisfaction and grabbed her black heels from Peter's bed.

Maisie exited his room as Peter was shrugging on his suit jacket. She smiled softly at the sight of the boy all dressed up, and something in her chest tightened. He finally looked over as she entered the living room, and his eyes widened.

"Whoa, Maisie, you look... really good," Peter mumbled. He didn't seem to notice, or maybe he didn't care, that he was openly staring at her. She laughed, tucking a piece of curled hair behind her ear.

"Thanks, you look pretty good yourself," she replied, gesturing at his getup.

Peter smiled, then he pointed at her dress, understanding lacing his voice, "I like the color."

Maisie bit her lip, shrugging, "Thought you might."

Whatever moment passed between them was interrupted by May's voice, "Alright, Peter! You're going to be late for Liz's if you keep taking so long—" she entered the living room to see Maisie, and she smiled brightly, "oh, Maisie, you look great! Are you sure you're good for a ride?"

"Yeah, I'm good, thank you anyway," she smiled in appreciation. Maisie cleared her throat and pointed at the door, "You better get going though, or Peter's gonna ruin his first shot at a date."

May laughed, grabbing her keys, "Very true, let's go Peter."

Peter shoved her as he walked by, giving her a mocking look, and Maisie let out a laugh, "Good luck, dork."

His eyes followed her as she turned back to the apartment, watching her careful movements around the place that had become her new home. Peter looked down at the corsage in his hand, furrowing his brows for a moment before shaking his head and following his aunt down to the car.

As the door closed, Maisie looked up, sighing as Peter went on his date with the girl of his dreams. She just hoped he had fun; he deserved that much.

******

Maisie teleported into the same alley she used to get to school in the morning and walked the rest of the way to the homecoming dance. The girl smoothed out her red dress and smiled at her appearance, proud to be dressed up for a change. When she approached the steps of the school, she saw MJ waiting for her in a white and yellow dress with her hair pulled back and out of her face.

"Hey," she greeted, smiling. "No date for you either?"

MJ snorted, "Not unless you count."

Maisie held out her arm for MJ to hook it through, "Well, let me escort you in, milady."

MJ laughed again and complied, and the two girls confidently strolled into the gymnasium. They found Ned rather quickly surrounded by the other Decathlon kids, and they joined him.

"M-Maisie, you're so pretty!" Ned said with wide eyes and a dropped jaw. He sobered suddenly, stuttering, "I-I mean..."

"Thank you, Ned," Maisie smiled appreciatively. "I love your hat, by the way."

Ned's nervous expression dissipated, replaced with a happy smile, "Thanks!"

A song that the group seemed to know came on the speakers, pounding in Maisie's enhanced ears, but she didn't know it well enough to sing along. She danced next to her friends, wondering how she was lucky enough to still have friends like them after everything.

The song eventually ended, and the group's attention was brought to a tall brunette in a short-sleeved pink dress entering the dance. They called Liz over, waving to the senior girl, but Maisie was a bit busy searching for her date who was nowhere to be found.

As Liz arrived, she smiled, "Hey, how's the party so far? Is the disco ball too much? I thought it might be too much..."

"Where's Peter?" Maisie asked, slightly rattled by his absence.

Liz looked over at her, a suspicious look on her face, "He's still in the car. My dad wanted to talk to him, I guess."

Maisie's nervousness subsided, but Liz looked skeptical as she returned to her conversation with the Decathlon team. Ned didn't seem to notice Peter's absence as he talked to Betty Brant about where he got his hat, and Maisie smiled. The lights in the gym were flashing to the beat of whatever pop hit was playing that Maisie didn't recognize, and she crossed her arms as she hung back next to MJ.

Movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention; it was Ned waving at someone at the entrance to the dance. When MJ and Maisie noticed, MJ sent him the middle finger, but Maisie furrowed her brows; the boy looked... off.

His face looked sad, but a determination kept him standing as he approached his homecoming date.

"What did he say to you?" Liz laughed, sounding a bit embarrassed.

Peter winced as he spoke, "I gotta go."

"What?" Liz asked, astonished.

"I'm sorry, you don't deserve this," Peter mumbled to Liz, feeling horrible as he stepped around her to reach Maisie who watched with wide, uncertain eyes. "I need your help."

Maisie's gaze flicked around to the rest of their group, lingering a bit too long on Liz before she looked back at Peter with a determined nod, "Let's go."

The two teens rushed out the back doors of the dance. As they entered the hallway, Peter undid his tie and threw it behind him and started running toward a set of lockers.

"What happened, Peter, you have to tell me!" she called, furrowing her eyebrows as he lifted the set of lockers to reveal a set of web fluid and his old Spider-Man suit. Maisie almost smiled as she saw the homemade suit with the black goggles and blue sweatpants, and she remembered her own purple athletic jacket and bandana she used.

"Liz's dad, he's the Vulture," Peter breathed, not bothering with pretense as he changed into his old costume. "And he knows I'm Spider-Man, he figured it out."

"What?" Maisie's eyes were wide. "How—"

"I don't know, but I left my phone in his car so we can track him, but we can't let him get away," Peter sighed, looking torn. "We need to take him down, together. I still have my comms from the suit," the boy paused, nervous. "Are you with me?"

Maisie nodded. "Of course."

With that, she teleported back to Peter's apartment to get her suit, but as she reached for the deep purple, Stark-made suit, she paused. Her eyes landed on her purple athletic zip-up and the black bandana tied around it in a bow. She smiled, grabbing her comms from her Stark suit and throwing on her handmade, original suit.

Maisie teleported back to the school in her old Mischief costume as Peter ran out into the bus parking lot, and she followed closely behind. Before she could call out to him, something collided with Peter's back, throwing him across the lot and into the side of a bus. Maisie's eyes widened as she saw the same weapon that knocked her out the night of Liz's party.

"He gave you a choice," the man with the shocker machine said. "You chose wrong."

"Ah, what the hell?" Peter mumbled, rolling over onto his stomach to stand up again.

"What's with the crappy costume?" the man said, recharging his weapon.

Maisie teleported in front of him, causing him to jump, "Hey, I remember you!"

The man blindly punched with his weapon, but Mischief had already teleported away. She appeared behind him, kicking him in the back of the leg, forcing him to his knees. Another jump, and she sent a punch to his face and a kick to the arm holding the shock weapon which flew off a good distance from him. Mischief teleported so she was standing over the top of the man, and she sent another punch to his face, knocking him out cold.

Maisie looked over her shoulder to see Peter standing up and attaching his web shooters to his wrists. He walked over and webbed the man to the ground, ensuring he couldn't move.

"Thanks," Peter sighed. "I don't know why I thought I could do any of this without you."

Maisie smiled underneath her bandana, "It's fine, I wanted my revenge anyway."

Peter looked down at her outfit, shaking his head with a smile on his face, "Nice getup."

"Well, it felt right," Maisie shrugged.

"Guys, where are you—wait, what the hell happened out here?" a voice asked. Maisie knew their masks were on, but she still froze when she heard someone speak. She calmed immediately when she saw it was Ned.

"Ned, the guy with the wings is Liz's dad," Peter told him, frantically. He looked over at Maisie before continuing, "We gotta tell Mr. Stark, I need you to call Happy Hogan, he's Mr. Stark's head of security, okay?"

"Oh, and get a computer to track Peter's phone," Maisie remembered. "We gotta catch him before he leaves town."

"Are you gonna be okay?" Ned asked, trying to process everything they said.

Maisie grabbed onto Peter's arm, eyes alight with mischief, "Of course, we're always okay."

With that, she teleported them to the front of the school. Everyone was inside, so they went virtually unnoticed.

Maisie looked around, "We're gonna need a car, I can't teleport if I don't know where we're going."

The sound of an engine revving came almost on cue, and the teen vigilantes turned to see Flash and his homecoming date in a silver sports car approaching the school. Maisie smirked, but before she could say anything, Peter was already swinging toward it. He landed on the front of the car, causing Flash to come to a complete stop, and Maisie teleported gracefully next to him.

"I need your car," Peter said in a gravelly voice. Maisie stood strong, giving Flash a serious look.

"Uh, sir, uh, ma'am, technically this is my dad's car, so I can't—" Flash objected fearfully, but Maisie rolled her eyes, reaching forward and teleporting Flash and his date to the front entrance of the school. Then she teleported herself into the driver's seat as Peter tried to open the driver's side door.

"Oh, come on, let me drive!" Peter frowned.

"Oh, no, not a chance," Maisie scoffed, putting the car into drive. "You're a terrible driver."

"What?" Peter protested.

"We don't have time for this, let's go!" she smacked him on the arm, and he relented, jumping over her into the passenger seat. "Here, take my phone and call Ned."

Maisie knew Peter was a bad driver, but she didn't have much more experience than that despite the fact she'd had her permit for about five months longer than him. It wasn't like her dad took her driving every weekend like a normal parent would. Still, she had superhuman reflexes and a strategic mind, that had to count for something, right?

"Ned, hello?" Peter asked into the phone as Maisie took a sharp right turn out of the parking lot. "Hey, can you hear me?"

"Go for Ned," a voice spoke through the speaker.

"Ned, hey," Peter greeted, wincing as Maisie braked hard to avoid a car before speeding up again. "I need you to track my phone for me, it's in the backseat of Liz's dad's car!"

"Genius move," Ned approved. A moment passed as Ned worked on finding Peter's phone's location. "Okay... uh, he just passed the GameStop on Jackson Avenue!"

"Ned?" Maisie winced at the stupidity of her question. "Could you find the headlights on this thing? We're in Flash's car!"

"You stole Flash's car?" Ned laughed out loud. "That's awesome. Okay, I'll pull up the specs!"

"Maisie!" Peter's voice sounded a warning as she almost hit another car, but she only smiled as though she were in complete control, ignoring the panicked look on Peter's face.

"Are you guys alright?" Ned asked, the sound of typing being his background music.

"Yeah, we're fine!" Maisie chirped. "Have you gotten a hold of Happy yet?"

"Yeah, I'm working on it, just gotta backdoor the phone system," Ned replied. He sounded like he mumbled something else like, "Guy in the chair!"

The rest of the drive consisted of trying not to run into cars going a lot slower than Maisie and Peter's, and Ned failing to get in contact with Happy Hogan, who kept hanging up whenever he finally got through to him.

"Another left!" Ned called out, trying to direct Maisie. "And... he stopped at an old industrial building in Brooklyn."

Maisie and Peter exchanged a look, "What? That doesn't make sense, I thought he said he was going out of town!"

"Weird," Ned didn't seem to have an answer for them. "Oh, I reached Mr. Happy. Don't think he likes you guys, by the way. It sounded like he was catching a flight. He said something about taking off in nine minutes."

"Wait, what?" Maisie asked, furrowing her brows.

"He was surrounded by a bunch of boxes," Ned supplied.

"Boxes... oh my God, it's moving day!" Peter realized, eyes widening.

"He's gonna rob the plane coming from the Tower!" Maisie understood. "We gotta stop him!"

"Right! Right! You're gonna miss the turn!" Ned realized, almost shouting through the phone.

Maisie slammed the wheel to the right, hoping they would still make the turn. It didn't look promising until Peter shot a web at a telephone pole, turning them ninety degrees to the right. Unfortunately, it was a little too much, and the car flipped onto its side, skidding across the pavement. Maisie latched onto Peter's hand, squeezing it tightly.

Eventually, the car came to a scratching stop, and she tentatively opened her eyes.

"Guys, are you okay?" Ned asked.

Maisie and Peter locked eyes, not letting go of each other's hands. The gravity of the situation finally hit them both at the same time. Then, inexplicably, they burst into laughter.

"Oh my God, are you guys dead? Are you—hey, are you laughing?" Ned sounded confused. The two only laughed harder.

Maisie managed to compose herself long enough to sit up, wiping her eyes, "Yeah, yeah, we're good, Ned."

Peter cleared his throat, "Just keep trying to get through to Happy."

"It's been an honor, Spider-Man, Mischief," Ned finished. Maisie wouldn't be surprised if he was saluting.

Peter jumped out of the car, and Maisie followed closely behind him. They paused in front of the door, knowing that a fight laid behind it.

"Ready?" Maisie looked to Peter. She was really wondering.

"I don't think I know what 'ready' feels like," Peter replied. "But, at least you're here."

Maisie smirked. She pushed open the door to the building, and they went in.

After a moment of walking, Maisie stopped, and she teleported away as Peter jumped into the rafters of the ceiling. As Maisie appeared behind a column in the main building, she saw as Peter descended slowly from above, letting his webs lower him down onto the ground. It was obvious to the two of them that they were expecting a bit more of a fight, but all they saw was Mr. Toomes standing next to a table, blueprints to the Avengers plane and a beer in front of him.

Peter glanced at Maisie, and she nodded in response. The boy touched down on the ground, and she teleported to stand next to him.

"Hey!" Peter called out, grabbing the Vulture guy's attention. When he turned, Peter continued, "Surprised?"

"Oh, hey, Pete," Mr. Toomes greeted. "I didn't hear you come in."

"It's over, we got you," Peter continued, trying not to be bothered by the use of his name.

At his words, Toomes' eyes flicked to Maisie, "And who might you be, little lady? One of Peter's friends?"

"I'd tell you, but that sort of defeats the purpose of the mask," Maisie shot back.

"Ooh, she's a fiesty one," Toomes laughed. "My daughter would like you, I'm sure. As for Pete, I'm just starting to understand why she'd like him. I mean, when he first came by, I was like 'really?' but now, I'm starting to get it."

"How could you do this to her?" Peter asked, shaking his head.

"To her? I'm not doing anything to her, Pete," Toomes sighed. "I'm doing this for her."

"Uh huh, sure," Peter shot a web, gluing the man's hand to the table and knocking over his beer.

"You kids are young," the man shook his head. "You don't understand how the world works."

"Yeah, well I understand that selling weapons to criminals is wrong," Peter deadpanned, as if there were nothing more obvious.

"How do you think your buddy Stark paid for that tower? Or any of his little toys? Those people... those people up there, the rich and the powerful, they do whatever they want. Guys like us, like you and me, they don't care about us," Toomes scoffed. "We build their roads and we fight all their wars and everything, but they don't care about us. We have to pick up after 'em. We have to eat their table scraps. That's how it is. I know you know what I'm talking about, Peter."

"Sure, they just save the world every once in a while, free of charge," Maisie glared. "No big deal."

"It's never for anything more than the attention," Toomes shot back. "It's all a spectacle built to boost their egos in the end."

"And carrying a nuke through a wormhole into space," Maisie took a challenging stance. "What? You think Stark did that for fun?"

Toomes scoffed, but before he could respond, Peter cut him off, "Why are you telling us this? What's the point?"

"Because I want you to understand," Toomes sighed, pulling a knife out from his pocket. "And, I needed a little time to get her airborne."

The sound of a wall crashing down echoed behind them, and the two jumped and dodged the famous winged suit just in time as it flew randomly throughout the warehouse, slamming into the walls and columns. Maisie teleported as it almost collided with her, and the two heroes were separated as Peter began flipping throughout the room to dodge the suit. Suddenly, the suit flew up and out of the ceiling. Maisie watched, waiting for it to attack again. When it didn't, she furrowed her brows in confusion.

"I'm sorry, kids," Toomes spoke up, free of his web restraint.

"What are you talking about? That thing hasn't even touched us yet!" Peter shouted back, getting riled up.

"True, then again, it wasn't really trying to," Toomes smirked.

Maisie's eyes flicked around the room, noticing the severed columns that were meant to be holding the ceiling. She looked over to Peter, he was walking toward Toomes, too far away to reach. Her eyes widened as the suit came crashing down, severing the last column in the far corner of the room. Peter was too far away.

The building collapsed as Maisie teleported to Peter's side, but a piece of rock collided with her head, knocking her off balance as she reappeared next to him. Both superheroes went down, trapped by the wreckage sent down on them from above.

When Maisie was conscious enough to understand what was going on around her, she heard Peter's voice echoing through the destruction, asking if she was okay.

"M-Maisie!" he coughed, a wet cough. Maisie prayed that it wasn't blood that he was coughing up. The sound of grunting continued, and she assumed he was trying to lift whatever was crushing him off of him.

"I'm h-here," she stuttered, barely managing a voice above a whisper.

Her chest was being crushed by something huge, feeling like the slightest movement might tear her in half. Based on Peter's voice, he only sounded about a foot away from her, but she couldn't see him. She wasn't sure if that was because she couldn't see anything, or if there was building cutting off her view of him. Either way, she knew she couldn't teleport anywhere, there was no way to focus.

"Hello?" Peter managed to yell, panic flooding his voice. "Hello? Hey, we're down here! I'm stuck! We're s-stuck! We can't move! Please, someone help!"

Maisie coughed, spitting out a string of blood. Tears clouded her vision, and she wished she could've said she was brave as she laid crushed by the collapsed building, but the sound of her soft sobs echoed through the destruction. Peter's enhanced senses caught the sound, and his heart sunk into his chest.

A wave of determination set in as he heard her cry. He'd be damned if he let this building crush her to death.

He shifted ever so slightly under the pressure of the concrete, moving his hands above his shoulders. Then, he started to push.

"C'mon, Peter," he mumbled to himself. He squeezed his eyes shut, focusing all of his strength and energy into pushing upward. "Come on, Spider-Man! Come on, Spider-Man!"

Maisie felt a weight shift above her, and a little gasp escaped her lips. Relief.

"Come on, Spider-Man!" Peter shouted.

He let out a guttural scream, pushing with all of his strength, and he stood up, holding the collapsed concrete above his head.

Maisie's eyes widened. She pulled herself to her feet as quickly as she could. Her head was spinning, and she couldn't think about anything besides getting them out. Limping as fast as she could, she dove, wrapping her arms around Peter, and she blinked.

Maisie landed on top of him on the pavement outside what used to be the building. Slowly, Maisie's eyes blinked open to see if Peter was okay, and she found him watching her, too. She breathed a sigh of relief and let her head fall back down onto his chest again. Peter's brows furrowed for a moment at the action, but he let his hand fall onto her head, brushing chunks of building and dust out of her hair. They didn't move from their position for a moment, catching their breath and gathering their bearings.

Eventually, Maisie slowly pulled away, finally breathing evenly again, and turned to face the city in the distance. She saw Avengers Tower lit up, the "A" shining the brightest of the lights in New York City.

"Alright, Spider-Man," Maisie sighed. Her eyes landed on a figure resting on the side of a building a few blocks down, not hiding at all. Toomes. "We've got a job to finish."

The two watched the older man atop the building, staring out at the Avengers Tower. It seemed like he was waiting for something. Maisie narrowed her eyes. She gripped Peter's hand and teleported them to the roof behind him, close enough to be able to take him down.

Then, as if on cue, the Vulture leaped into the dark sky just as a plane departed the edge of the Tower in the distance.

"Shit," Maisie swore, teleporting closer, but she was too late.

Peter, however, wasn't. He shot his web at Toomes, and Maisie wasn't sure whether to be relieved or horrified when she saw that it stuck to the back of his mechanical wings. Peter took off, trailing behind the villain flying higher in the sky toward the plane.

Maisie frowned, knowing that if she teleported into holding onto the web that she'd clue the man into the extra weight. Her eyes lifted higher, settling on the plane where she knew the two were heading.

"Meet you there," she mumbled, and she teleported.

She landed inside the plane, eyes wide as she adjusted to the change. All around her were weapons manufactured for the Avengers, the gear that they'd used to save the world several times. Her eyes widened as she saw crates worth of miniature arc reactors, clean energy that Tony Stark once created as a hostage in a cave in Afghanistan. Maisie had to talk herself out of pocketing one as she made her way to the cockpit to search for Toomes and Peter.

Before she could even begin to scan the skies for them, she heard the sound of air rushing through the plane as though a hole had opened to the outside. Maisie froze; he was on board.

"Mason, this better work," Toomes' voice echoed through the plane.

Maisie teleported to the back of the plane, avoiding the man as he moved toward the cockpit. She eyed his movements as he scanned the crates of advanced weaponry with greed. Panic started to set in when she didn't see Peter follow Toomes on board, and she moved to the hole in the plane the man entered through. It was covered by what Maisie remembered as the Vulture's wings in a seal around the hole, and the girl's eyes widened as she realized Peter must've still been on the outside of the plane. That, or he was falling to the ground with no hope of survival.

Instead of finding Peter, she was greeted by the wings seal's sudden shifting. Maisie's eyes widened as something collided with it, loosening the wings' grip on the plane. She felt the air start to rush back outside, and her eyes widened even more.

"Shit!" she exclaimed as the wings moved enough to make a hole big enough to create a vacuum pulling everything inside the plane to the outside. She remembered her comms, "Are you on the outside of the plane?"

"You kids just won't die, will you?" a voice caught her attention, and Maisie saw Toomes stalking toward her in anger.

The vacuum was too strong, and Maisie slipped on her foot, falling to the ground toward the hole in the plane. She let out a yell and shot Toomes an angry look before teleporting back to the cockpit.

Thankfully, the man didn't follow her, but she knew that meant he was likely going to fight Peter.

"Spider-Man, you on the plane?" she asked, waiting for his boyish voice to respond.

"Just a typical homecoming," an exasperated voice chimed through her ear. He sounded like he had just run a marathon, "on the outside of an invisible jet," another panting breath, "fighting my girlfriend's dad!"

Maisie couldn't help her scoff, "A little presumptuous to call her your girlfriend, don't you think?"

The girl took a seat in front of the controls, trying to find some sign of familiarity. Autopiloted jets that had to be emergency landed were not on her list of things she knew how to operate. After tonight, she wondered if she would even count cars as something she knew how to operate. Shaking her head, Maisie shoved the thought from her mind and focused on the controls.

"How the hell do I land a plane?" she asked, knowing that Peter would be just as lost as her.

"A little busy here, just—just figure it out!" he replied, and Maisie heard more fighting noises.

Her eyes caught movement on a small screen; Peter was fighting the Vulture on the outside of the plane in a homemade sweatsuit. Good thing he's sticky, she said to herself, praying he would be alright. And he would be, if she could just land the plane.

"Oh, God!" Peter cried, then silence. Then, "Whew, I can't believe that worked!"

Maisie tried to ignore him, focusing on the multicolored buttons on the dashboard of the plane and trying not to destroy them with her frustration.

"Oh, shit," Peter said. "Uh, Mai—Mischief? We lost one of the, uh, propeller thingies?" Another beat passed, then, "Oh my God."

"God, what is it?" she asked, finally looking up from the controls. Her eyes widened as she saw that the plane's trajectory was sending them straight toward the city. And she had no idea what to do.

Maisie started randomly pressing every button she could reach, hoping that it would force the plane downward, but nothing worked. Glancing at the screen, she saw Peter pulling on a web attached to the wing of the plane, hoping it would turn it in time. She felt the jet slowly rotate toward the side Peter was pulling, and a flicker of hope erupted in her chest.

"Please turn, please turn!" he begged.

Then, it all went to hell.

Peter's web snapped, dropping the wing of the plane back into its original position. Maisie's eyes widened at the scene in front of them. The entirety of Coney Island stood in the plane's path, ready to be destroyed. Thousands of people visited Coney Island every single day; how many of them would be hurt or killed by a plane crash of this magnitude?

Maisie's breath hitched as she looked down at her hands, and an idea sparked in her. Her eyes widened, looking back up at the heavily populated amusement park. Could she even do it? She took a shaky breath, there was no room to fail. Knowing there was no more time to second guess it, she gripped the front of the plane's controls, staring at the empty beach a mile and a half past the highly populated fair, and she teleported.

A high-pitched scream tore through her chest, feeling pain erupt throughout every part of her body as she strained to teleport the entire jet away from the civilians and to safety. She pictured the entire plane with each and every piece of technology aboard it, straining her body to teleport it from one place to another. A bright purple light began to consume her, but she couldn't afford to lose focus. 

Her eyes stayed locked on the beach, and then, suddenly, they were there.

The plane landed hard on the sand, and Maisie did her best to cushion her fall, but there was nothing to stop her from flying through the plane's front windshield. She landed in a ball amidst the wreckage, curling herself up tight as though she could avoid the destruction around her. The purple light dimmed, and she let out a ragged breath.

"—Maisie? Answer me!" a frantic voice called in her ear. "Agh!"

"Pete?" she coughed, trying to get a breath. Her body felt like it was on fire, "I-It hurts..."

The girl's head fell limp against the sand. Maisie couldn't remember much immediately after that. Her vision was spotty, and her heart was beating so fast she thought it would fly out of her chest. She remembered a blazing orange fire and mechanical wings flapping into the sky before tumbling back down to the sandy ground.

Maisie heard an explosion, and the sound jerked her to her senses long enough to allow her to raise her head. She saw a glimpse of Peter running into a fire before emerging with Toomes over his shoulder, and she breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that he was okay. With that knowledge, she felt her heartbeat slow to a steady rate, and her eyes fluttered shut.

Some time later, Maisie didn't know if it were two minutes or two hours, someone took her hands and pulled her to her feet. She put her arm around Peter's shoulders, and he held onto her tightly as he shot a web toward the Coney Island Cyclone.

"Maisie?" Peter's hoarse voice asked, wincing as he set her down. Maisie sat next to him, not daring to put her legs over the side of the ledge.

She took a breath and nodded, "Yeah?" she sounded even worse.

A tired smile fell upon Peter's face, "We did it."

Maisie let out a broken laugh, shaking her head before allowing it to rest on his shoulder, "Yeah, we did."

The two spent the next few hours staring out over the beach and Coney Island, overseeing Happy's team collect Toomes and start to clean up the wreckage, and watching the sunrise front and center for hours until Maisie felt strong enough to teleport them home.

******

One day later, the two returned to school. Ned met them early in the hallway, wanting to rehash every detail about the fight, especially including the small part he witnessed the end of in the bus parking lot.

"You teleported the entire plane?" Ned exclaimed, jaw dropped, earning shushes from both Peter and Maisie.

The girl couldn't help her smile, "Yeah."

"It was the coolest thing I'd ever seen," Peter said, shaking his head in awe. "Like, seriously, Maisie, it was the coolest thing—"

"Yeah, yeah, thanks," Maisie shoved him with her shoulder, hiding the blush rising to her cheeks. Peter only beamed in reply, proud of her.

"Oh, shit, Peter..." Ned's eyes widened, and he gestured at something at the end of the hallway.

He looked up to see Liz hugging Betty, tears in her eyes as she said her goodbyes. Maisie's heart sunk, knowing that having a father on trial for illegal weapons dealing must be hard on her. She just hoped she'd be alright.

Peter frowned, feeling guilt set in, "I should probably go apologize."

Ned and Maisie remained silent, knowing he was right. Solemnly, Peter approached a crying Liz.

Maisie watched them for a moment, but didn't try to hear what they were saying. She shook her head, and pulled on Ned's arm.

"C'mon, we'll see him at the meeting," she mumbled.

Ned followed Maisie to the library, taking seats at the table Mr. Harrington was setting up. MJ was already there, seated in the chair farthest from the teacher.

"Hey," Maisie smiled at her friend, taking the seat next to her.

MJ eyed her for a moment, then replied, "Hey."

Maisie noticed an odd tone to her voice, but given that it was MJ, she didn't linger much on it. Charles entered the room, giving Maisie a high five that earned a scoff from Flash, who followed behind. It seemed that anything she did earned a scoff from that kid nowadays. The rest of the team filtered in, Peter being the last.

Maisie sent an inquisitive look, which Peter replied with a simple nod of the head. Liz would be okay.

"Alright, congratulations, Decathlon national champions!" Mr. Harrington started the meeting.

The group cheered, laughing along to the sound of their accomplishments, clapping loudly as Mr. Harrington raised the trophy for them all to see.

"I'm gonna have to put this back in the trophy case soon, but just for motivation right now at this meeting," the teacher explained. "I'm a little ahead of the game, but we will need a new team captain next year. So, I'm appointing Michelle."

Maisie turned to MJ with a bright smile, clapping the loudest of the group for her friend.

"Uh, thank you," MJ cleared her throat, shrugging. "My friends call me MJ."

"I thought you didn't have any friends," Ned pointed out before nodding in Maisie's direction. "Besides Maisie."

A beat passed, and MJ gave a small smile, "I didn't..."

Suddenly, both Peter's and Maisie's phones buzzed, catching the attention of the table. Maisie frowned and looked down, seeing a text from an unknown number reading, Go to the bathroom.

When Maisie glanced up, Peter was already looking right at her.

"I... gotta go," Peter's eyes moved to Mr. Harrington, who sighed and waved his hand to dismiss him.

"Er," Maisie winced, standing up, "me, too."

A few eyebrows raised when Maisie got up, too, and MJ's voice cut through the silence, "Where are you guys going?" Peter and Maisie exchanged a look, trying to think of an excuse, but she continued, "What are you hiding?"

Maisie's mouth opened, but no noise came out.

"I'm just kidding, I don't care, bye!" she laughed, shaking her head before turning back to the table. "Alright, so we should run some drills..."

Peter pushed his backpack over his shoulder and followed Maisie out the door, exchanging a wide-eyed look with her, "You don't think..."

"MJ knows?" Maisie finished his question. "Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if she did."

The two walked for a bit until they reached the boy's bathroom. The girl sent him a look, mumbling about how it was ridiculous that she had to follow Peter into the bathroom. Crossing her arms defensively in front of her chest, she turned the corner of the bathroom wall with Peter to find Happy standing in the middle of the room.

"Hey, Happy!" Peter greeted, eyebrows furrowing.

"What are you doing here?" Maisie asked, shifting uncomfortably.

Happy sighed, "Look, I really owe you guys one. I don't know what I'd do without this job, I mean, before I met Tony—"

The sound of a toilet flushing interrupted what was certainly going to be a heartfelt speech, and Maisie's face turned red at the sight of Tiny McKeever exiting one of the stalls, sending the three a weird look. The boy walked over to the sink and washed his hands before grabbing a few paper towels, throwing them away, and sending one more look over his shoulder, pointedly at Maisie. Maisie gave an exasperated shrug, not having much more for an explanation.

"So, uh, how long have you been here?" Peter asked. He sent Maisie a smirk, obviously amused by her discomfort.

"Long enough to be awkward," Happy frowned. "Boss wants to see you."

"Is he in here, too?" Peter's eyes widened, pointing at the stalls. Maisie elbowed him in the gut.

"In the toilet?" Happy scoffed. "No, he's upstate."

Maisie's heartbeat quickened, "Upstate? Like... upstate?"

"Yeah, let's go," Happy gestured to the door.

The two teens followed Happy out of the bathroom, Peter chattering excitedly the whole way. Maisie stopped, frowning at the man once they reached his car.

"You're telling me that I didn't actually have to go into that restroom?" she frowned, putting a hand on her hip.

Happy rolled his eyes, "Just get in the car, kid."

******

The drive to the Avengers Compound took a little less than an hour, though the two kids hardly noticed. Maisie was tapping her foot unconsciously on the floor of the car, bouncing her leg up and down as she ran through every scenario possible in her head about what Mr. Stark had to talk to them about. Peter did his best to try to calm her down, but he had his own batch of nerves, however hopeful they were.

Eventually, they reached the futuristic compound, earning awed looks from the pair. Happy gave a satisfied smile at their wide eyes, and put the car in park in front of a building with a wall entirely made of windows. The Avengers "A" was engraved subtly into the building's concrete, and Maisie winced at the sight. The Avengers weren't exactly all working nowadays, thanks to the Sokovia Accords and the scuffle in Germany.

"Pretty impressive, huh?" Happy looked upon the compound fondly. "They just finished remodeling the whole thing."

Peter gave Maisie a hand, helping her out of the car. She smiled, flicking her eyes around every part of the compound. A quinjet was taking off nearby, catching their attention. She couldn't imagine having all this and living as a superhero.

"We'd better get inside," Happy continued, gesturing at a flight of stairs nearby.

Maisie followed the man up the stairs, but she had to turn around and drag Peter along with her, who was too busy watching the quinjet fly from view.

"Come on," Maisie laughed, running up the steps.

When they entered the building, Happy told them to wait for just a moment while he told Mr. Stark they were there. Maisie nervously ran a hand through her hair as the man walked away.

"What?" Peter whispered, furrowing his brows.

"You don't think we're in trouble, right?" Maisie replied, biting her lip.

Peter lost his focus for a second catching himself watching her before her panicked expression brought him back to reality.

"We did everything right, didn't we?" he frowned. "Except Mr. Stark told us not to go after him, but then he would've stolen all the Avengers' weapons and stuff, so that would've been bad..."

Maisie nodded, somewhat reassured for the time being. The two sat in silence, watching as another quinjet took off and flew toward whatever destination.

"Oh, there they are," a smooth voice caught their attention. Mr. Stark smiled at the teens, and Happy returned to stand behind them. "How was the ride up?"

"Good," Happy responded before they could.

Mr. Stark sighed, nodding, "Give me a minute with the kids."

Happy frowned, "Seriously?"

"I need a minute with the kids."

"I'll be close behind," Happy crossed his arms.

"How about a loose follow?" Mr. Stark responded. "Boundaries are good."

Then, Mr. Stark turned to Peter and Maisie, giving Peter a light punch on the arm before stepping between them and throwing his arm around both their shoulders. The two exchanged incredulous looks, but they weren't about to spoil it. Peter was right, apparently they weren't in trouble.

Mr. Stark looked directly at Peter, sighing, "Sorry I took your suit. I mean, you had it coming. Actually, it turns out it was the perfect sort of 'tough-love' moment that you needed, right? To urge you on, right? Wouldn't you think? Don't you think?"

Peter locked eyes with Maisie, who nodded rapidly in response, and he replied, "Yeah, yeah, I guess."

"Let's just say it was!" Mr. Stark smiled, clapping him on the back one more time before turning to Maisie. "And you."

The girl winced, waiting for him to speak.

"Did you beam an entire plane full of advanced scientific weaponry across the city?" he asked, his voice full of wonder.

"Not the whole city..." Maisie replied, looking down at her feet.

"Incredible, absolutely incredible," Mr. Stark shook his head in astonishment. The man sighed and continued walking toward the end of the large hallway.

"Mr. Stark, I really—" Peter began, but the man interrupted.

"You screwed the pooch hard. Big time. But then you did the right thing. Took the dog to the free clinic, you raised the hybrid puppies... All right, not my best analogy," Mr. Stark shook his head to rid himself of the tangent. He came to a stop in front of a grey wall and faced the kids. "I was wrong about you two. I think, with a little more mentoring, you could be a real asset to the team."

"To... to the team?" Peter asked, eyes wide. Maisie was frozen in shock, was Mr. Stark really considering adding them to the Avengers?

"Yeah," Mr. Stark shrugged, as if the thought were no big deal. He turned to point at a door behind him, "There's about fifty reporters behind that door, real ones, not bloggers."

The man pressed a few buttons on what Maisie first thought was a watch, but now assumed had more capabilities than just that.

"And when you're ready, why don't you try those on, and I'll introduce the world to the newest members of the Avengers: Spider-Man and Mischief," Mr. Stark stepped back, revealing a wall compartment opening to show two suits.

One was gold, black and red, resembling Peter's Spider-Man suit, but with more of an armored, Iron Man look to it. The other suit made Maisie's breath stop in her throat. It was a full-body armored suit, just like Spidey's, but it was deep purple and black from head to toe with gold accenting that matched her to both Spider-Man and Iron Man. It was beautiful, and it was hers? Wait, did he say that they were Avengers?

"W-What?" Maisie stuttered at the same time Peter chuckled in awe.

"So, after the press conference, Happy will show you to your room, your new quarters," Mr. Stark said, eyeing Maisie during that part of his spiel. He cleared his throat and turned to Happy, "Where's Peter's room? He's next to Vision?"

"Yeah, Vision's not big on doors," Happy shrugged. "Or walls."

"He'll fit right in," Mr. Stark sighed, turning back to the kids. "Lucky for you, Goldilocks, we've had a vacancy of moody teenage girls in the Compound."

Maisie hardly noticed the quip, too busy trying to organize her thoughts racing a million miles per second. She didn't have to beg her dad to take her back? She didn't have to keep feeling like a burden on May by crashing on her couch every night? Even if she didn't have her teleportation powers, she'd even be willing to drive herself the hour from the Compound to school if she had to. The girl was already planning how to get the rest of her stuff from her dad's house in order to bring it upstate when Peter spoke up.

"Thank you, Mr. Stark, but I'm good," he said.

Even Maisie was surprised.

Mr. Stark's mouth tilted into a frown, "You're 'good'? How are you 'good'?"

Peter shifted nervously between his feet, glancing at Maisie, "Well, I mean, I'm... I'd rather just stay on the ground for a little while. Friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. Somebody's got to look out for the little guy, right?"

The girl couldn't help it, she smiled.

"You turning me down? You better think about this. Look at that," Mr. Stark took off his sunglasses, pointing at the suits again. "Look at me. Last chance, yes or no?"

Peter gained a bit of confidence, "No."

"Okay. It's kind of a Springsteen-y, working class hero vibe that I dig," Mr. Stark cleared his throat, nodding once. The man turned to Maisie, a question still on his face, but he continued, "I'll still ask, but since your partner here made his decision—"

"I'm good on the ground, too, Mr. Stark," she replied, feeling her heart sink as the opportunity to live without begging for her father's forgiveness dissipated in front of her eyes. She knew it was the right decision. It would be tough to balance schoolwork while maintaining the image of teenage Avenger to the rest of the world, and Peter had obviously matured a lot in order to understand what he'd be giving up in order to be an Avenger.

"Alright, uh, Happy will take you home," Mr. Stark replied, eyes not leaving the girl's face.

"Yeah, mind waiting in the car? I need a minute," Happy told the kids, holding his phone to his ear and walking off to the side. 

Peter nodded, reaching forward to shake Tony's hand, "Thank you, Mr. Stark."

"Yes, Mr. Parker, very well," Mr. Stark tried to hold back his pride as the boy turned to walk in the direction he came from. Maisie turned to mimic the boy's movements, but Mr. Stark shook his head, "One sec, kid. He'll wait."

A moment later, Peter turned around, "That was a test, right? There's, uh, nobody back there?"

Maisie and Mr. Stark exchanged a look, and the man responded, "Yes, you passed. Skedaddle there, young buck."

Peter grinned, turning back around, "Thank you, Mr. Stark, thank you!"

As soon as Peter left the room, Maisie turned to the older man, "This isn't a test, is it?"

Mr. Stark sighed, "Again, you are more perceptive than the other kid. What would he do without you? I wonder."

Maisie shrugged, "Get locked in an underground facility overnight and tear a ferry boat in half."

Mr. Stark smirked, shaking his head, "You two have kept me on my toes over the past few weeks, I'll admit."

"I'd apologize, but I guess it all worked out in the end," Maisie picked at her bracelet on her wrist, avoiding eye contact.

"Hm, all except one thing," Mr. Stark tilted his head. "Your dad."

Maisie's head shot up, eyes wide, "My dad? There's nothing wrong with my dad, he's fine, he—"

"Kicked you out," Mr. Stark finished, nonchalance seeping into his voice.

Maisie's mouth opened and closed, no words coming out.

Watching her, the man's tone shifted into one of understanding, "Look, my dad... he never really cared what I did or didn't do, especially if he didn't think it was good enough to win some award or further the company's progress."

Maisie couldn't help the scoff, "The most my dad spoke to me over the past four years of my life was when you showed up telling me about the grant I won."

Mr. Stark's mouth twitched, but he remained serious, "That's why I wanted to offer you a solution."

Maisie's ears perked up, hope fluttering in her chest.

"The other kid, he's been letting you stay at his place, right?" Mr. Stark continued as though he already knew the answer. "I already have your room set up, complete with everything a teenage girl needs to survive high school, er, according to Pepper."

"What?" Maisie's eyes widened. "But, Peter—"

"Peter will understand," Mr. Stark told her. "The kid seems pretty understanding."

A smile grew on her face, but it faltered at the thought of another person paying for her to live again. It didn't matter to her that the man was a billionaire, she shouldn't be his problem.

"I..." Maisie sighed, "I don't enjoy the idea of being someone's burden. You don't have to do this, Mr. Stark. I can just talk to my dad—"

"Kid, trust me, you aren't a burden," Mr. Stark put a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to reassure her. "If not for you, the world would be a much less safe place, and I owe you."

Maisie kept face, trying not to take his words to heart. If she did, she was afraid she'd start crying in front of Tony Stark.

"If I let you do this for me... I'll need to do something to earn it," Maisie brushed off his interruption, knowing he'd say something like she'd already earned it. "I'll go on a few missions, low-key. I know you're a little understaffed since Cap and his band of Rogues left a few months ago. I can help, and when Peter's ready, he can help, too."

The left side of Mr. Stark's mouth twitched into a smirk, "Alright, kid. Good lesson, earning your keep and everything. I like it," he nodded. "We'll have you moved in by the end of the day, Ms. McCall. Welcome to the team."

"Thank you, Mr. Stark," she beamed.

"If you're living here, Ms. McCall, I'm gonna need you to call me Tony," the man said, using his watch to close the armor display behind him.

"Fine," the girl chirped, turning on her heel towards the door, "but I'm gonna need you to call me Maisie, Tony."

"Square deal," Mr. Stark nodded at Happy as he returned from his phone call. "I'll see you later, Maisie."

Maisie smiled, wondering if her face might get stuck like that if she kept it up. She gave the two men a salute and left the same way she came.

******

Peter was laughing as he entered his apartment; Maisie was recalling something MJ said to Flash after Decathlon that day that he missed. They were forgoing patrol that day in favor of pre-calc homework (unless, of course, they finished early).

"Hey May?" Peter called into the apartment. "Did you do dinner already?"

No response, and Peter shrugged, assuming she was still at work. Maisie threw Peter's bedroom door open before lounging on his desk chair.

She rifled through her backpack, "Can you please help me with this trig problem? I am not even close to figuring it out..."

When no answer came, the girl's head popped back up. Peter was staring at a brown paper bag sitting on his bed, the words, This belongs to you. -TS written in big black letters.

"Is that what I think it is?" Maisie's cautious optimism got the best of her.

Peter didn't answer, instead, he pulled his upgraded suit that Tony made him from the bag. He turned around, eyes alight with excitement and pride.

"I—" he began, "I can't believe he gave it back."

"Of course he did," Maisie tilted her head. "You earned it."

He stared at her with an almost pleading expression, and Maisie laughed, shaking her head.

"Homework can wait," she obliged, reaching into her drawer where her suit was hidden. "And, by the way, Pete? There's something I need to talk to you about—oh, and you're already changing. I'll be right back."

A shirtless Peter rolled his eyes as Maisie chuckled and teleported to change, getting back just before Peter put his mask on. Maisie smirked and pulled hers over her nose, but something felt different.

"Hello, Maisie. It's nice to finally meet you," a calm, English accent began. The girl jumped almost a foot in the air.

"What? Who are you—who's speaking?" Maisie spoke fast, eyes darting to lock with Peter's.

"Congratulations on completing the rigorous Training Wheels Protocol and gaining access to your suit's full capabilities," the man's voice echoed through her ears again.

"Oh, you have a Karen, too!" Peter exclaimed, pointing to his suit.

"A 'Karen'?" Maisie asked, blinking through her mask.

"A Karen!" Peter insisted. "Mr. Stark gave us our own AI's. I named mine Karen because I didn't wanna just go around calling her 'Suit Lady,' you know?"

Maisie stopped, "You named your AI 'Karen'?"

Peter turned to face her, "Yeah?"

"Yeah, alright," the girl shrugged. She thought for a moment, then spoke again. "So, do you have a name, AI?"

"I don't believe that Mr. Stark issued me a name when creating me," Maisie was slightly confused by how humanlike Tony made its voice. "Although, Mr. Stark did make an effort to manufacture artificial intelligence systems that he believed would be beneficial to each of what he referred to as the 'new blood.' Is that helpful?"

Maisie smiled, figuring that an AI with a name like 'Karen' was a perfect one for Peter. She smirked, finally realizing the reason for the British accent and the young, vibrance of the voice. So she had a thing for British accents, so what?

"Alright, well in that case," she thought for a moment, "I'll name you 'Percy.'"

"Noted, thank you, Maisie," Percy responded, an amused tone to his manufactured voice.

"Percy?" Peter laughed. "Percy and Karen, sounds good. I wonder if they know each other—"

"What the fuck!" a startled voice erupted from behind them.

Maisie and Peter turned with wide eyes to see May Parker standing in the doorway. The two teens exchanged a look, but with Peter's mask off, the secret was pretty much out. In solidarity, the girl slipped her mask off her head, letting her hair fall across her shoulders.

"Hey, May," Maisie winced, glancing at Peter's frozen expression.

When she looked back at May, the woman didn't look much different. Maisie reached into her drawer, grabbed everything she could and shoved it into her backpack. Flicking her eyes between the pair of Parkers, she knew they'd figure it out.

"See you later, Pete," she spoke softly, and she teleported.

******

When Maisie appeared again, she was standing in the same place where Tony spoke with her only a few hours before—where he had changed her life and offered her a way out from her uncaring father. He'd provided her with a life where she could do some good, and she was going to work like hell to earn it.

"Ms. McCall? Are you looking for your room?" a sweet voice asked over the intercom. She was Irish, Maisie noted with a small smile.

"Yes," the girl's eyes brightened. "Yes, I am."


	6. The In-Between

Maisie always considered her powers to be a gift despite the horrible way she got them.

Her mother taught her to be positive, to look at all the things in the world with a sense of wonder and beauty. As she got older, Maisie found it was harder to keep the optimistic view of the world, and by the time she moved to New York, was recruited to fight against Captain America and the other Rogue Avengers, and got kicked out of her own home, she was sad to say that her worldview had become slightly more cynical.

After the disaster that was her sophomore homecoming at Midtown Tech, she was officially moved into the Avengers Compound in Upstate New York. Transportation was simple with her power of teleportation; every weekday, she teleported to the alley near school where she was sure no one would see her.

Despite her new living situation, Maisie still wondered if her father thought about her or worried about her safety, but the lack of communication between them after a few weeks became something of an indicator that he didn't.

Maisie's life at the Compound wasn't as lonely as one would think. Despite Tony and Pepper's frequent business trips for Stark Industries and the meetings with the government regarding the unsolved situation with the Avengers, she saw them more often than she used to see her own father. It'd been almost four months of living as an Avenger, and she hadn't been this happy since before her mother died.

It was a Tuesday night, and Maisie was finishing up some homework in her room. Usually, she ignored it until last minute, but she decided to get a head start on some of her math for that week. Peter was planning on staying the weekend at the Compound, so she wanted to make sure she didn't have too much to do.

Her room was put together by Pepper, though there were small touches that let Maisie know that Tony had some of an influence. The Iron Man bobblehead, along with the Stark Industries hoodie and jacket was a bit of a tip off. Her second night in her room, she explored more of the closet, and she found a cheesy Iron Man t-shirt that said, "Keep Calm and Iron On." She simply shook her head, knowing it was his doing.

The large TV resting on the wall opposite her bed and the white laptop sitting pretty on her desk let her know that she'd be well taken care of while she stayed with Pepper and Tony. She'd never seen such obvious wealth before, and at times it overwhelmed her. But, it eased her spirits to know that in the grand scheme of things, it wasn't more than a speck on the Stark budget sheets.

A knock sounded on Maisie's door, and she called, "Come in!"

Tony stepped into the room, hands in his pockets, "Hey kiddo, you busy?"

"Nope," Maisie replied honestly, "I was getting a head start on some homework. Boring stuff, I don't think I even realized I was doing it to be honest."

"Good," Tony nodded, "we've got a small mission, if you're up for it."

Maisie's eyes brightened, "What is it?"

******

Maisie let out a groan as her alarm chirped incessantly on her phone, singing out the catchy tune of "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" by Tears for Fears. She used to love that song, but she realized that the more it was used to shock her awake from a peaceful sleep, the more she grew to hate it.

As Maisie sat up, she was reminded of the newly bruised shoulder from the night before. It throbbed painfully, and she winced, knowing she'd have a hard time with her backpack at school.

" _Good morning, Maisie,_ " FRIDAY's Irish accent rang. " _Boss has asked me to relay a message_ ," Maisie heard Tony's sarcastic voice take over for FRIDAY's, "'Up and at 'em, or you'll miss your French test. See, I pay attention to you.'"

Maisie scoffed, but she obeyed, swinging her feet over her bed and standing up. Her legs weren't as sore as she expected, and she called that a success. Missions were becoming more frequent, but she was proud to say that she was in shape enough to keep up.

As she got ready, she recalled the events of the night before. This mission in particular was quite simple. Maisie, along with Tony, was commissioned to retrieve a biological weapon stolen by terrorists. Maisie wasn't given complete details on what the weapon would do, but she figured it was some form of rapid virus that would give the human population three legs, a tail, or something equally as scary. That, or just kill people. Since the Avengers were called in, it was more likely that it was the latter.

Luckily, they were able to get it back without the terrorists using it, though they held an eleven year old girl hostage in an attempt to make demands before Maisie teleported in and saved her.

Maisie made a scoffing noise, shaking her head in anger and disbelief as she recalled that detail from the night before. _Why did some people have to be so horrible?_

After throwing on some dark jeans and a black jacket, Maisie made her way to the kitchen, planning to grab an apple before teleporting off to school.

"Decathlon after school today?" Tony asked, sitting at the island and scrolling through something on his phone, not looking up at she entered the kitchen.

"Not today," Maisie grabbed the darkest red apple and smiled in satisfaction. "MJ said we need a break—well, she said she needed a break from the team's idiocy. I respect it."

Tony gave an amused hum, then looked up from his phone, "How's your shoulder today?"

"Bruised, kinda hurts," Maisie took a bite of her apple with a shrug. "I'll be fine in a few hours."

"Great," Tony nodded, standing up. He clapped a hand on her unhurt shoulder, "Good job yesterday. That little girl owes you her life."

A proud smile grew on Maisie's face, "Thanks, Tony."

Tony nodded, dropping his hand back down by his side after giving her a little shove toward the door, "Now go fail a French test."

"Impossible, I'm too great of a student," Maisie scoffed, taking another bite of apple as she turned toward the door. "See ya, dad!"

With that, she teleported out of sight and into the alley near school. Maisie wasn't there to see the shocked expression she left in her wake. As she landed, however, her heart stopped, and she dropped her apple.

"Oh, God, no," Maisie's eyes were wide in horror.

She stood frozen in the alley for a few minutes, reeling from the embarrassment that came with calling Tony Stark "dad," and not even in a sarcastic way. She felt her heart sink to her stomach, trying not to feel a sense of shame for calling someone else what she already had.

Maisie started walking, shaking her head as she finally pulled herself from her stupor. She didn't owe her father anything, including and especially any real meaning behind that particular word. He never spent a second caring about her; he didn't deserve for her to miss him, but still, she did.

As Maisie reached her locker, MJ was already waiting, giving her a confused look, "What's with you?"

Maisie blinked, "Uh... nothing."

MJ shrugged, never being one for deep emotional conversations, but then again, neither was Maisie.

"You ready for the French test today?" Maisie changed the subject, opening her locker.

" _Bien entendu,_ " MJ responded simply. After a moment of silence, she continued, "Saw the news about last night, it looked like Iron Man took that new superhero with him again."

Maisie stared at her calculus textbook, keeping her face neutral, "Huh, weird."

"Spider-Man wasn't with them, and I thought they were sort of partners," MJ shrugged.

"Yeah, me too," Peter chimed in, appearing on Maisie's other side and leaning against the lockers. "Coulda sworn that they went out pretty much every night as a team, I saw them together a lot."

Maisie shot him a look, shutting her locker. The door barely missed Peter's fingers, but he pulled them out of the way just in time. He looked slightly offended, but Maisie ignored him.

"She's not ditching Spider-Man, they're like best friends, right?" Maisie glanced at MJ. "That's what the news is saying at least."

The bell rang, interrupting Peter before he could say anything else. MJ backed away, "See you guys at lunch." Maisie waved.

Peter frowned once MJ was gone, "That was the sixth time this month you've ditched me to go on a mission with Mr. Stark!"

"Shh!" Maisie sighed, knowing he was right. "I'm sorry, I really was going to come, I just forgot. And Mr. Stark said something about a little girl that'd been kidnapped and used in a terrorism threat with this biological or chemical weapon, and—"

"It's alright," Peter interrupted. "I just miss being out there with you, you know? It's not the same anymore."

Maisie's lips tilted into a teasing grin despite the rising blush on her cheeks, "You miss me, huh?"

Peter stopped walking to look her in the eyes, "Yeah."

She didn't really know how to respond, his seriousness surprising her, so she ran an anxious hand through her hair and pointed at the classroom, "Er, wanna go in?"

"Sure," Peter sighed, letting her walk in first.

They silently sat down in their usual seats, waiting for the teacher to begin class.

After a moment, Maisie leaned over, whispering, "I miss you, too."

Peter smiled.

******

Maisie left her last class of the day with a full heart. She made up with Peter, and they made plans to patrol that evening, she saved an innocent person from becoming collateral damage the night before, and she was on her way to pick up some coffee before heading back to the Compound.

"Just an iced coffee, please," Maisie smiled at the barista.

She handed her credit card over, something Tony insisted she have now that she was living with him at the Compound. The barista swiped it and gave it back, and as Maisie was putting it back into her bag, her eyes caught the TV in the corner of the coffeehouse showing the news.

"— _only eleven years old, a young girl by the name of Evelyn Hargreeves was rushed to the hospital at around three thirty in the morning,_ " the newscaster displayed the image of the girl, and Maisie froze. " _Hargreeves was involved in a kidnapping earlier in the night, but Iron Man, along with his fellow hero, Mischief, rescued her. Unfortunately, exposure to a virus has resulted in young Hargreeves' untimely passing. She was surrounded by family in her final moments, and the virus has since been returned..._ "

Her heart felt like it was falling out of her chest as the picture on the news of a girl named Evelyn took her back to the night before. She was such a brave little girl.

_From a hiding place in the rafters, Maisie heard Tony's voice say something eerily calm for someone who was threatening several gunmen, but she didn't hear exactly what he said. She was too focused on the shivering brown-haired girl in the corner of the room tied up against her will. All Maisie needed was a second, and she'd be out of there with the girl's life._

_When the thug closest to Maisie raised his gun, she teleported, latching onto the girl's arm and getting out of there._

_As soon as she rematerialized at the Avengers Compound still holding the little girl's hand, Maisie leaned down, "I'll be right back, okay? What's your name?"_

_"E-Evelyn," she replied, scared out of her mind._

_Maisie easily unraveled Evelyn's ties, "Evelyn, no one can hurt you here, okay? This is a top-secret Avengers facility, and you're completely safe."_

_"Okay," Evelyn nodded, her brave face returning._

_"Good," Maisie smiled, "I'll be right back, I just have to go deal with those bad guys. See you in a minute!"_

Back in the coffee shop, Maisie was unable to move, unsure if she'd be able to do anything except cry. When Maisie returned to the Compound, Evelyn wanted to go home, and she looked fine, so that's where Maisie took her.

She couldn't do it. All that work to save that girl from some of the most vile people in the universe, and Maisie let them win.

"Iced coffee for Maisie?" the barista called out.

Her voice snapped Maisie from her thoughts, and she stepped forward to take her drink.

"Thanks," she whispered, trying to stop her hands from shaking.

"You alright?" the barista asked, concern in her eyes.

That was the first time Maisie noticed the tear falling softly down her cheek.

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine," she brushed it off. The barista gave her a look. Maisie ignored it. "Thanks for the coffee."

The girl rushed out of the coffee shop, unable to stay where she could see the news displaying the beautifully innocent face of Evelyn Hargreeves. She reached the alleyway and teleported almost immediately, landing in her Compound bedroom and pushing the coffee she ordered aside, untouched. Putting her head in her hands, she sat down on her bed, letting her tears fall without care.

She could've done more. She should've done more.

******

" _Boss, Ms. McCall is currently in distress_ ," FRIDAY's voice echoed over the intercom, interrupting Tony's latest project.

Tony frowned and looked up from a set of schematics displaying experimental nanoparticles, "Why?"

" _It seems as though she has heard bad news,_ " FRIDAY responded. " _I am unsure, I could—_ "

"No, no, that's okay, FRI," Tony replied, waving a hand. "I'll go figure it out."

" _Yes, boss_ ," FRIDAY answered, her Irish accent floating from the ceiling.

Tony approached her door, hesitating before knocking. He still hadn't forgotten what she called him that morning. He was sure he'd never hear someone call him that... ever. He and Pepper had never talked about it. Every time he imagined bringing a life into this screwed up world, he remembered how his own dad treated him, and he knew he couldn't do that to another kid. He knew he'd never be good enough for a kid.

But, Maisie called him "dad" so easily, almost like she hadn't even realized she did it. After she'd left, and after the shock wore off, he couldn't help but feel a sense of bursting pride that this kid he cared for thought that he was worth caring about, too.

Tony knocked on Maisie's closed door, nerves kicked away for the moment, "Maiz?"

Maisie's eyes widened, and she furiously wiped the mascara marks from her eyes while clearing her throat, "What's up, Tony?"

"Kid, I know you're not alright," Tony responded, hearing her voice waver through the door. "Let me in, what's wrong?"

Maisie considered the thought. Her father never asked how she felt or asked to talk about what made her upset. She was used to holing up in her room until she felt better or until she fixed what was making her upset. She didn't really know how to approach this situation. Little did she know, Tony was just as confused and unsure as she was.

Hesitantly, she stood up, walking over to her bedroom door, and she opened it.

Tony looked at her; messy hair, black eyes, and wet cheeks, "What happened, kiddo?"

Maisie bit the inside of her cheek to stop a wave of tears, turning her back to Tony and sitting down on her bed. She couldn't answer.

"Maisie?" Tony asked, using her first name for the first time that Maisie could remember.

"That little girl," Maisie said through gritted teeth. "We... _I_ didn't save her."

Tony stayed quiet, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"She died this morning," another tear slipped out of Maisie's eye, and she hastily moved to wipe it away, avoiding Tony's eyes.

Tony didn't know what to say. He wasn't prepared to handle a distraught teenage girl; what was he thinking, coming in here? He watched her as she forced back more tears, wondering what he could possibly do to help.

"I failed," Maisie summarized. "I failed. All I want to do is go back in time and change it. It's my _fault_."

Tony's heart sunk; he knew exactly how she felt.

"Kid, it's not your fault," he said, shaking his head. "You were just doing your job, you didn't know, and you did beautifully. There was no way to know—"

"If I'd known, I wouldn't have taken her home! I would've taken her to a damn hospital! We have a medbay in this building!" Maisie didn't seem to be listening, and Tony sighed."If we'd gotten her there, a doctor could've—"

"Have I ever told you the story about how I became Iron Man?" he interrupted.

Maisie stopped, confused, "What?"

"I guess most people already know my cave story, but do you know why I went to Gulmira and saved that small village from those terrorists from the Ten Rings?" Tony asked.

"Because you're an awesome person?" Maisie shrugged, sarcasm flowing off her tongue.

"Because I found out that the man I looked up to like a father had been selling my weapons to terrorists for extra cash under the table," Tony replied simply. "I was the CEO of Stark at the time, and I had no idea."

Maisie's eyes widened, but she stayed quiet.

Tony continued, "The weapons that I created for our country to use to save lives and win wars, and Obie, he was using them to get more money at the expense of innocent people."

"You didn't know," Maisie spoke softly. Her eyes cast downward once she realized why Tony was telling this story.

"You didn't either," Tony shrugged. "It's what you do once you have all the variables that makes you a hero, kid."

Maisie was quiet for a moment. Only the sound of the occasional sniffle filled the room.

"I just wish I could've done more," she thought of the little girl again.

"I know," Tony sighed, patting her awkwardly on the back. Maisie wiped her cheek with her sleeve again.

"I can't remember the last time I got a pep talk like this," Maisie scoffed, embarrassment evident on her face.

Tony noticed her hesitance and decided he'd lighten the mood, "Well, I figured I should start giving fatherly advice."

Maisie's eyes widened, and she groaned, "I was hoping you didn't notice..."

"Hey, if you wanted to call me that after everything you've been through," Tony shrugged, "I'd be honored."

Her eyes started to fill with tears for the second time that night, and Tony immediately backtracked.

"Or not! I mean, I'm not your, er, father, and I don't want to—"

Maisie interrupted his rambling with a crushing hug, wrapping her arms around Tony and surprising him for the millionth time since he met her.

"Thank you," Maisie was smiling.

"I don't, er, wanna take your dad's place or anything," Tony explained, still slightly uncomfortable with the whole situation.

"Tony, my father kicked me out of the house for going out and saving innocent people's lives, and now he's threatening me with exposing my identity if I don't come back to live with him," Maisie scoffed, shaking her head. "I'm not holding onto that relationship any less than he is."

Tony's eyes widened, "He's doing _what_?"

She winced, recalling her run-in with her father the week previously.

 _Maisie stopped in front of the candy aisle at Delmar's, considering her choices. Peter was expecting her for patrol soon, but she wanted to surprise him with a treat._ Reese's or Snickers? _she thought._

_"Margaret," a voice spoke behind her._

_Maisie froze, a cold feeling settling over her at the sound of her father's voice. Though she didn't want to, the girl slowly turned around._

_"Dad," she stiffly nodded, wondering if she should even call him that._

_"I thought you'd be here," he nodded, as though he was proud of his detective skills. "This is where you and your terrible influence of a friend meet up after school."_

_"Is there something you need?" Maisie asked, ignoring the jab on Peter._

_"Yes, as a matter of fact," her father continued. "It's time you return home. Quit your silly running away game and come back."_

_Maisie didn't know what to say for a moment. It's been over four months, and he suddenly wants her back home?_

_"What the hell are you talking about?" Maisie shot back. "You're the one who kicked me out!"_

_"It's come to my attention that you're staying at the home of Tony Stark—"_

_"Yeah, and funnily enough, I'm actually happier there than I ever was at home with you," Maisie spat._

_"Listen here, Margaret," her father took a menacing step forward. "You're going to come home with me, or I'm going to start spreading the word about your little superhero secret. Maybe I'll start with the Daily Bugle, that place can't seem to get enough of you and your Spider-Friend."_

_Maisie's eyes widened, "You wouldn't! That could get me killed—"_

_"The choice is yours," Mr. McCall moved to walk past her, stopping beside her. "You have one week."_

_Maisie didn't watch as her father left the store, unable to be honest with herself. Her own father wouldn't turn her in, would he?_

Maisie shook her head, ignoring the memory, "I really think he's bluffing. My own father wouldn't do that, and I'm not going to let one threat decide how I live my life. I was just going to ignore him."

Tony heard her, but he was able to see past the unfounded hope that Maisie had that her father wasn't as terrible a person as he seemed.

"Kid, you know that while you're living here nothing can touch you, right?" Tony asked.

Maisie smiled, "I know."

"Good," he nodded.

On a whim, the man leaned forward and kissed her on the top of the head. Maisie figured this was the type of thing that a good father would do with his daughter in a perfect world.

The two enjoyed the moment until Tony finally said, "Don't forget, Peter's waiting for you on top of some rooftop in Queens."

Maisie closed her eyes and took a deep breath, " _Shit!_ "

******

Peter forgave her easily; he was never one to hold grudges. They spent the night busting small acts of crime including an attempted bank robbery, something Maisie hadn't seen for a while. Still, not even saving a teenage girl from a mugging was enough to soothe the guilt lurking in the back of her mind. She didn't tell Peter what happened, she knew he'd just tell her the same thing Tony already did.

"See you tomorrow, Peter," Maisie plastered a smile on her face, standing on the edge of the rooftop.

"Maiz," Peter stopped her before she could teleport off, taking off his mask. "I know something's bothering you, and, you know, I'm here for you if you wanna talk."

Maisie avoided eye contact, nodding stiffly, "Thanks, I'll... see you tomorrow?"

Peter looked disappointed, but he nodded, putting his mask back on and turning toward the city, "Yeah, see you."

He shot a web and swung off into the night, leaving Maisie alone on the rooftop.

She wished she could see a world where that little girl still had her whole life ahead of her, somewhere where she survived past that night because Maisie got her the help she needed before it was too late. She wished that Evelyn Hargreeves' whole life wasn't torn apart at the age of eleven, just like Maisie's was. Difference was, Maisie still got the chance to grow up.

Shaking her head and tearing herself away from the tragic thoughts, Maisie turned toward the edge of the rooftop, ready to teleport home. Still, she couldn't help thinking about Evelyn as she jumped off into the night sky.

******

When Maisie rematerialized, she was staring up at the same abandoned building from the night before.

She frowned, not a stranger to what happened when her mind wandered as she teleported despite the fact that it was quite an amateur move. Maisie took a deep breath, and she was about to teleport back to the Compound when she heard what sounded like repulsors and gunfire from inside the building.

Eyes widening, Maisie teleported into the rafters of the building, careful to stay out of sight until she figured out what was going on. Her eyes found the attackers, seven large men wearing gas masks and holding weapons too advanced to be bought on the regular market, but there was something eerie about them. It was almost like she'd seen them before.

"You really should let the girl go," a familiar voice said calmly.

Maisie looked over in surprise to see Tony, wearing his Iron Man suit, holding one hand toward the men in an obvious threat. Okay, now this was definitely something she'd seen before. The night before last, in fact. The night that resulted in the death of Evelyn Hargreeves.

Sure enough, Maisie turned her head to the side to see a little girl with brown hair and a bright blue headband tied up by her hands in the corner, unmistakably Evelyn. And when Maisie glanced to the ceiling a few feet from her, she saw _herself_.

Thankfully, Maisie chose a place hidden from view of her past self or that would've been a confusing conversation for them both. This was the part where Maisie teleported in to save her before dropping her safely in the Avengers Compound, telling her to sit still until she came back.

She should've taken her to the hospital, Maisie's eyes widened.

Maybe this was her chance to fix it.

As quick as blinking, Past Maisie teleported down, grabbed Evelyn by the hand, and disappeared again.

"Oh, wait, you didn't have to," Tony snarked. "Good thing I have people for that."

The men opened fire, and Past Maisie reappeared, ready to help her mentor.

Maisie didn't waste any time once she saw that her past self was back at the warehouse, and she teleported to the main living floor of the Avengers Compound. She smiled when she saw the young girl staring in awe at everything. Maisie felt exactly like that when she first visited; she still couldn't believe it was her home.

"Hey," Maisie spoke softly, trying to make her voice sound as nonthreatening behind her mask as possible.

Evelyn's head whipped in her direction, eyes widening, "T-That was fast."

"Thanks," Maisie shrugged, turning the attention back to her. "So, how are you feeling?"

"Sort of gross, but I guess that's how you feel when creepy old guys kidnap you," Evelyn said, disgust evident on her face.

Maisie couldn't help but smile under her mask, "You're definitely right about that, but just to be sure, let's get you to a hospital, okay?"

Evelyn grinned, showing a missing tooth with a new one already growing in, "Okay. I like hospitals!"

Maisie laughed, holding out her hand for Evelyn to take, "You're the only person I've met who likes hospitals, Evelyn."

"I wanna be a doctor one day," she said with pride, the gap in her teeth making another appearance. "I wanna help people just like you and the other Avengers, just without all the superpowers."

Maisie's anxiety levels rose even higher at her words, "Well, I hope so much that you do. I know you'd be an amazing doctor."

Evelyn looked proud of herself, and she glanced at their intertwined hands, "Are we gonna teleport again?"

"Sure are," Maisie smiled. "Are you ready?"

Evelyn's eyes brightened, "Yes!"

Maisie laughed, squeezing the girl's hand tight, and she teleported in front of Helen Cho's medical bay in the Avengers Compound. If anyone could fix whatever unknown virus Evelyn was infected with, it was her. Evelyn's eyes blinked several times in a row as she tried to adjust to her new surroundings, but the smile never faded.

"Where are we?" she asked.

"This is where all the Avengers go when they get sick," Maisie explained, catching Cho's eye and beckoning her across the room.

"Mischief? What seems to be the issue?" Dr. Cho asked, confused by the presence of the young girl. Evelyn didn't notice, she was looking around at all the different types of medical equipment.

"This is Evelyn, and she has been infected with some sort of virus," Maisie explained under her breath. "We need to find a cure, fast."

Dr. Cho nodded, "I'll see what I can do."

Evelyn frowned, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Maisie tried, but the girl was much too smart for that. She sighed, "We think you might get sick soon, so we're trying to fix it before it happens."

Dr. Cho gestured for them to follow her, and Evelyn hesitantly complied.

"Okay," the girl said, "I wanna make sure I'm good enough to go to school tomorrow."

Maisie's heart constricted, "Me too."

"Right this way, Evelyn," Dr. Cho said. "We need to run some quick tests."

"Can't she come with me?" Evelyn pointed at Maisie.

"I'm afraid not, but she might be waiting for you when you're all better," Dr. Cho looked awkward; it was obvious she didn't get much time around children.

Evelyn took a few steps back until she was by Maisie's side, and she whispered, "You're my favorite superhero."

Maisie tried not to let herself be too affected by the girl's words, and she nodded, "Thank you, Evelyn."

Evelyn beamed, and she turned to follow Dr. Cho down the hallway towards the scientific minds that would save her life. Maisie smiled, knowing that Evelyn would be okay.

As Maisie stood alone in the hallway of the Avengers Compound, she realized one thing: she had no idea what to do.

"Okay, so you went back in time, that's new and fun," Maisie whispered to herself. "Saved a girl's life, she's gonna grow up to be a doctor, you did a good thing!"

But how did she do that? She just thought of the little girl and how much she wanted to save her, and all of a sudden she could teleport back in time? Maisie thought about the Tesseract, wondering how it could've possibly granted her the power of time travel along with teleportation. Time and space never had a true definition before, so she wasn't optimistic she could try to figure it out now.

"...Tony I swear, I left her in the living room!" Maisie heard her own voice echo down the hallway.

Her eyes widened, jumping out of sight before she screwed anything up in the past.

"I'm telling ya, kid, she's not here," Tony responded. "She must've gone exploring or something, that's how kids are, am I right?"

"Yeah, I guess," Past Maisie shrugged. "Ask FRIDAY?"

Maisie's eyes widened, whispering, "Shit."

"Yeah, FRI, where's the littler kid?" Tony asked. Past Maisie gave him a look.

" _Evelyn Hargreeves is currently in the medical bay with Dr. Helen Cho_ ," FRIDAY responded.

Tony and Maisie exchanged a look, "Why is she there?"

" _It seems as though Dr. Cho has identified a fatal virus that Evelyn has been exposed to_ ," FRIDAY explained. " _She is currently running several tests in the process of creating a cure. She is close, and Evelyn will certainly be just fine._ "

"Holy shit!" Past Maisie exclaimed. "It's a good thing Dr. Cho found her! If she'd gone home..."

"Hey, Helen has it covered, that's all that matters," Tony assured her before looking back up at the ceiling.

Maisie smiled and teleported into the medbay, looking around until she saw Evelyn and Dr. Cho next to an exam table. Evelyn was asleep, something Maisie found quite astonishing after the night she had.

"How's it going?" she asked Dr. Cho.

"We have the cure right here," Helen replied, holding the syringe in her hand. "Could you stand next to that monitor and tell me what it says?"

"Okay," Maisie glanced at the door, trying not to let her nervousness show. "How do you know if it worked?"

"If her pressure spikes, let me know," Dr. Cho responded, searching for a vein. "If it works, which it will, her fever should disappear almost immediately."

"She has a fever?" Maisie asked, eyes wide.

"She won't in about a minute," Dr. Cho inserted the needle into Evelyn's thin arm, "Pressure good?"

Maisie glanced at the numbers once, nodding, "Yeah, it's fine."

A small exhale came from Evelyn's mouth, and her scrunched face suddenly relaxed, as though she were relieved of some invisible burden.

Dr. Cho reached forward, feeling Evelyn's forehead, "Temperature?"

Maisie glanced at the monitor, "Ninety-nine even."

The doctor smiled, "She'll be just fine."

"That's good," Maisie breathed a sigh of relief. "I'll take her home soon, just let her rest for a bit."

Dr. Cho nodded, "I will go get her something to eat when she wakes up. She needs some Vitamin C."

"Okay," Maisie nodded, "I'll stay here."

Dr. Cho left the room, mumbling about orange juice as Maisie turned back to the sleeping girl.

"I'm gonna have to go, but I know you're gonna be fine now," Maisie smiled. "Grow up and be a doctor, okay? You're gonna help so many people, and I'm really happy I was able to help you."

Maisie heard distant footsteps in the hallway, and her eyes widened. She took one last look at Evelyn's peaceful face and took a deep breath.

"Alright, time to go," Maisie whispered, squeezing her eyes shut. _I wanna go back to my own time, back to the place I left to come here_.

With that, she hoped really, really hard and teleported.

******

When Maisie opened her eyes, she was looking down at a street, cars driving by and pedestrians walking quickly on the sidewalk. She was standing on the edge of the building she left when she went back in time to save Evelyn.

"Whoa," she breathed, letting the cool air brush a few stray hairs across her cheek.

She checked her phone, reading the date and time of when she left. Her eyes widened, realizing that she successfully traveled back in time and saved a little girl's life. Maisie's eyes scanned the lighted city for the sight of a swinging superhero; there was one person she really wanted to tell.

Maisie teleported into Peter's room at the same time he entered through the window.

"Ah—God, Maisie?" Peter jumped, hitting his head on the windowsill. He looked confused, "What're you doing here? Did you want to talk—"

"Peter, I just went back in time," Maisie burst out.

Peter's eyes widened, "What?"

"I time-traveled back to last night," her eyes were bright with excitement. "I saved a little girl from dying. Her name was Evelyn, and she wants to become a doctor, and now she can be!"

"You teleported back in time? What the fu—" Peter's eyebrows furrowed. "Wait, you said you saved a girl named Evelyn?"

Maisie nodded, "Helen Cho saved her life, she was infected with some virus, and I should've taken her to the hospital last night, but she wanted to go home and she said she was fine, so—"

"Evelyn Hargreeves?" Peter asked suddenly, scrolling through his phone.

Maisie's smile faltered, "How'd you know?"

Peter hesitated, frowning as he held out a video of an old news story.

 _"At only eleven years old, a young girl by the name of Evelyn Hargreeves was rushed to the hospital at around three thirty in the morning,"_ the newscaster said, the same thing that Maisie heard earlier that day in the coffeeshop. _"Hargreeves was involved in a kidnapping earlier in the night, but Iron Man, along with his fellow hero, Mischief, rescued her. Unfortunately, exposure to a virus has resulted in young Hargreeves' untimely passing. She was surrounded by family in her final moments, and the virus has since been returned—"_

Maisie shut off Peter's phone, shaking her head, "This doesn't make any sense."

"Are you sure that she was, er, cured?" Peter asked.

"Yes! Cho used the serum she made, and she looked so peaceful..." Maisie frowned, confused. Then, the reality of the situation sunk in—she still hadn't done it. "I saw my past self, I was there, she saved her... I swear!"

Maisie was so sure, she was so confident. But it hadn't even made a difference.

Peter seemed to understand as soon as she did. His eyes filled with sadness; it hurt him just as much to see her upset, and he reached a hand forward to hold her. Maisie pushed his hand away, wrapping her arms around herself.

"Maiz, I'm here," Peter moved in front of her. "I understand, I get it! Don't you think I know how it feels to lose someone?"

Maisie's watery eyes shifted their gaze from the floor up to meet his face. His brown eyes looked so sincere, begging her to trust him.

"I'm sorry," she sniffed, shaking her head. "I'm not usually... all..."

"Teary?" Peter supplied.

Maisie sighed, nodding, "Yeah."

"You don't always have to act so strong, you know," Peter shuffled his feet, moving closer to her. "That's why I'm _here_."

He'd never seen her look so broken, not since her dad kicked her out. She was usually so put together, almost indestructible. Peter had started to think of her that way. Maisie wouldn't let anything hurt her, and if she did, she wouldn't let anyone know.

Maisie didn't say anything, but that didn't stop Peter from wrapping his arms around her in a hug. His heart was beating too fast for it to be normal, but he didn't care.

"Thank you," she whispered into his shoulder, too nervous to say anything else.

"You're welcome," he said into her hair, the lemony scent filling his nose.

"I just..." Maisie sniffled. "I was just so sure I did it."

Peter thought for a moment, his hands moving slowly through the soft strands of her hair. Slowly, he pulled away, a pensive look in his eye.

"What?" she asked.

"What if you _did_ do it?" he wondered.

Maisie frowned, "I'm confused."

Peter's eyes lit up as he thought; Maisie could practically see the gears turning in his brain as he spoke, "You said you went back in time when you teleported, right?"

"Yeah..." she still wasn't getting it.

"What if you didn't just teleport through time, but time _and_ space?" Peter theorized, eyes wide in excitement. "You got your powers from that dumb blue cube right? The thing that opens doors to other places in space? If you didn't change anything here, maybe you changed it somewhere else."

Suddenly, it clicked. Maisie's jaw dropped, "You mean... you think I teleported into the past, but into a different space? Wait..." her eyes widened. "Do you think I created a new timeline entirely?"

Peter rapidly nodded, "If you go back in time—"

"That past becomes your future, and the former present becomes the past... which can't be changed by the new future!" Maisie exclaimed. "Did I really save that girl?"

"Yeah, Maiz," Peter grinned, "I think you did. I mean, we'll talk to Mr. Stark about it, he'll be able to figure out if this makes sense or not—"

Maisie jumped forward, throwing her arms around his neck and laughing. Peter caught her, spinning her around in amusement.

"I saved her! I—" she stopped suddenly, pulling back. "But... she still isn't alive here."

"Yeah, but you did something no one else can do," Peter's eyes were filled with sympathy, but there was something else there that Maisie couldn't place. "You went back in time, and gave the girl another chance at life."

Maisie's frown lessened, it was hard for her to resist his sincerity. Evelyn was alive somewhere else, dreaming of becoming a doctor and sleeping in her own bed, safe and happy. Maisie looked up at Peter again; his puppy-dog eyes were hard enough to resist in the most trivial of times, and this was no exception.

"Thank you, Pete," the corner of her mouth lifted up in an attempted smile.

Peter sensed her unease, and he wished that the little girl could've been saved in their timeline. There were several things they both wanted to change about their pasts, but things happened the way they did. Despite Maisie's newly found power, they were still as helpless to change the horrors of the past as they were previously.

"Come on," Peter suddenly grabbed her hand. "Take us somewhere for pizza, I'm hungry."

Maisie's bubbling laughter filled the room before Peter clasped a hand over her mouth, equally as amused.

"Shh! May will hear you—" he tried.

"It won't be the first time she's caught me in your room," Maisie giggled again, taking his hand off her mouth and holding onto it.

Peter's cheeks reddened at the insinuation, but she teleported them away before he could stutter a word.

******

Two knocks rapped on Mr. McCall's door, causing the man to pause his television and slowly rise to his feet. He leaned forward to check the peephole, but he was met with nothing but the palm of someone's hand covering it. McCall stood still, confused but curious as he turned the handle of his door.

"Oh, good," the visitor's voice hid anger through a veil of amusement. "Now I won't have to blow the door down."

McCall closed the door behind him, "Tony Stark. I thought you might show up."

"Glad to know your brain works at all," Tony wandered throughout the apartment, rolling his eyes at a picture of Maisie still framed on the mantle. "I'm here... because a young lady I happen to be quite fond of, is having issues regarding a creepy old man threatening her with blackmail."

"Still doesn't explain what you're doing here," McCall brushed off his insults with ease.

"Oh, I'm here to make sure it never happens again," Tony took a step toward him, all traces of amusement gone from his voice.

McCall's reaction wasn't one the superhero was expecting: he started laughing.

"Am I missing something?" Tony raised an eyebrow, his tone level.

"Please, Stark, I knew she'd run and tell you the second I spoke to her," McCall smirked, taking a seat on his couch. "So, how much are you willing to keep my daughter's vigilante identity a secret?"

Tony stared at the man for a moment, wondering how he managed to raise Maisie: a girl willing to put her life on the line for others at the first sign of danger. She was a miracle, Tony guessed. That, or her mother was a saint.

"Here's what's going to happen," Tony held his watch up, tapping a few buttons on it. "I'm going to make you an offer. It's take it or leave it."

McCall leaned forward, "I'm listening."

"You tell me that you will never, ever give up Maisie's identity," Tony stared him down. "And I won't kill you for all the shit you've put her through."

McCall shook his head, another scoff, "There's no way you'd do that. You're a public figure, people would—"

"I think you'd be surprised," Tony tapped another button, and pulled his watch gauntlet over his hands, aiming its repulsor at McCall's chest. "Now, as a genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist, and _Avenger_ , it's my word against yours. As an emotionally and physically abusive father who kicked his fifteen year old daughter out of her own house, how well do you think that's gonna fly?"

McCall was silent, staring with wide eyes in awe at the icon standing in front of him.

"It's your call," Tony smirked, "McCall."

The man's eyes were filled with rage, but his defeated nod of the head signaled his surrender.

Tony wasn't finished though, "And if you ever come near my daughter again, I'll blast you into the ground without a second glance."

He turned to leave the way he came, McCall glaring furiously at his back.

"She's not your daughter, Stark!" he yelled, spit flying from his mouth.

Tony didn't even look back, snapping, "Well she's sure as shit not yours."

He slammed the door behind him.


	7. A Few Times

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A few times that Peter and Maisie looked a little too much like Tony and Pepper.  
> (kinda canon, kinda drabble)

_ **I.** _

"Peter, you haven't eaten anything since last night!" Maisie half-yelled, holding a peanut butter sandwich in her hand and waving it around. "It's three o'clock in the afternoon!"

Peter glanced up from his work for a moment, regarding Maisie with a lazy nod, "Oh, hey, Maiz. When did you get here?"

She stared at him in annoyance and disbelief, "Did you go to sleep last night at all?"

Silence, then, "Er, yeah."

"Liar," she shot back.

Tony, who was pretending to work on his project instead of eavesdropping, smirked.

"Okay, but Mr. Stark and I were really close to figuring out how to—" Peter was interrupted again, this time by the lab doors opening and Pepper Potts entering the lab. "Uh oh."

As soon as the door closed behind her, Tony was away from his desk and booking it to stand in front of her.

"Nice try," Pepper scoffed, placing a hand on his chest. "I know you skipped the shareholders meeting today, and just looking at you, I can tell you've been awake for more than twenty-eight hours."

Tony opened his mouth, likely to respond with some sort of sarcastic comment or witty defense, but Pepper interrupted again.

"Go upstairs and shower," she ordered. "I already had FRIDAY put in an order for Chinese, and it'll be here by the time you get out. Also, If you aren't in bed by ten o'clock tonight, I'm canceling our wedding."

She leaned forward to give him a peck on the lips, turned on her stiletto heel, and left the room. Tony stared after her, smiling with a loving expression on his face. Maisie subconsciously took a step away from Peter, tossing the peanut butter sandwich onto a plate on his desk.

"Er, I'll be upstairs," Maisie cleared her throat awkwardly, and followed in Pepper's footsteps out of the lab.

Tony and Peter stood in silence for a moment, staring at where the two had exited. Then, Tony leaned forward, clapping a hand on Peter's shoulder.

"You'll learn, kid," the older man said.

Peter tore his eyes away from the lab door, "Learn what?"

******

**_ II. _ **

"I thought you were dead," Peter expressed, glaring at Maisie in exasperation.

"And, I'm not," she replied, taking off her mask. "Problem solved."

Peter stuttered to find the words to express what he was feeling, "You can't just teleport off into an exploding building! That's—"

"—exactly what I'm supposed to be doing, Pete," Maisie argued. "The whole point of being a superhero means saving lives, and I did that."

"But you can't just—" Peter exclaimed.

"I can, and I did," she glared. "If you have a problem with that, go be someone else's partner."

"I don't want to be anyone else's partner!" Peter frowned. "But if you just keep putting yourself into these positions... you're gonna be killed, and I can't stay around to watch you do that."

Maisie stared at him. She struggled to choose between defending her actions or apologizing, but neither of those options felt right.

"Just—ugh," Peter sighed. "I don't want to have to find your body, too."

The girl bit her tongue, knowing he was referring to Ben.

"I'm not sorry," Maisie mumbled. Peter's head shot up, frustration glittering in his eyes, but she raised her hand to stop him. "I saved someone's life by doing that today, and I don't regret it, but I think I can understand what you're talking about."

He waited for her to continue.

"My powers are kind of like a safety net," she sighed. "I remember Tony saying one time his suits were kind of the same thing. It's easy to rely on them, and I bet, one day, it could come back to bite us. Still, I'm not going to pretend like I can't teleport into a building armed with explosive and out of it within ten seconds. That's something I can do, and if it saves lives and keeps the world's enemies at bay, I'm going to keep doing it."

Peter frowned.

"If you don't want to be my partner anymore, I understand," Maisie sighed. "But, this is who I am, and I think it's who you are, too. That's why I wanted to be your partner in the first place."

The boy slowly nodded, "Okay."

Maisie frowned, "Okay? Is that it? I made a pretty nice speech about being, I dunno, a superhero, and all you say is 'okay'?"

"What else do you want me to say?" Peter flailed his arms in exasperation. "I'm not sorry for being worried about you—"

"Say 'thank you for saving the citizen in danger, Maisie, you're always right,'" she mocked, raising an eyebrow.

Tony and Pepper stared at the two arguing teens from their place in the doorway, varying expressions of amusement and exasperation.

"You know, when I asked you not to be a superhero anymore, you destroyed your suits," Pepper commented, shrugging.

"Didn't stop me from making a dozen more," Tony winced. "And Ultron."

The woman scoffed, "Those kids are gonna have a rough future ahead of them."

Pepper turned away, leaving Tony staring after her, "Hey! What do you mean?"

******

_** III. ** _

Maisie stood along the side of the room, playing with the straw in her drink. She had to be the only person at the Stark Foundation Benefit younger than thirty years old. Her Sprite swirled in her glass one last time before she sighed and set it down on the nearest table, crossing her legs and plopping down into a seat. The dress Pepper picked out for the occasion was black and silky, and the shoes were the same color. She had to tell herself many times not to trip over the lengthy fabric, but she did think that the dress suited her well.

Peter was supposed to be there to keep her company, and as Maisie checked her phone for the fifteenth time, she saw that he was over an hour late.

Flipping her curled hair over her shoulder, she shook her head and stood up to search for someone she actually recognized amongst the inordinate amount of suits and designer dresses.

Peter finally arrived at the Benefit, straightening his tie as he walked through the huge double doors leading into the ballroom. He gulped as several older business people gave him confused look, but he pretended he didn't notice. He was late, he knew that, and he also knew that Maisie was going to probably kill him for leaving her alone with a bunch of strangers for over an hour.

As his eyes scanned the ballroom for Maisie's blonde head, he saw Tony and Pepper slowly dancing in the middle of the floor, looking like they were the only two in the room. Peter smiled, wondering if he'd ever get such an epic love like they did.

"There you are!" Maisie exclaimed, shaking her head in exasperation so a few of her blonde curls flipped over her shoulder. "Do you know how long I've been waiting for you?"

As Maisie chewed him out for being late, he took in her full appearance. Her makeup was done expertly, making her green eyes stand out even more than usual. Despite the hands on her hips and stern glare she was giving him, Maisie looked beautiful, and he noticed.

Before she'd even finished her rant, Peter asked, "Wanna dance?"

"What?" Maisie raised an eyebrow. She seemed to remember she was mad, and replied, "No! No."

"Come on, let's dance," he smirked, taking a page out of Tony's book and holding an arm out for her to take.

"Peter!" she exclaimed, but her laughter betrayed her.

He took her hand, and led her out to the dance floor with all the older businesspeople reluctantly swaying to the outdated music. Maisie tried not to look surprised as Peter expertly led her on the dance floor, stepping carefully to the rhythm of the song.

"You can dance?" she finally said, more of a statement than a question itself.

"After the... incident," Peter lowered his voice, "I've been pretty light on my feet."

Maisie shook her head, smiling, "Well, you're pretty good."

"Thanks," Peter's pride shone on his face.

"But, despite your best efforts, you still can't tie a tie," Maisie laughed when she saw how crooked the boy's tie was.

Peter groaned in annoyance, "Why does this always happen?"

She reached out, pausing her dance to adjust the tie correctly before smoothing out his lapel and brushing nonexistent lint from his coat, "What would you do without me?"

"Die, probably," Peter shrugged. "I don't even know my social security number."

Maisie put her arms back around his neck, shaking her head, "That's really not good, Pete."

The two danced in silence for a while. Maisie scanned the room for Pepper and Tony, and Peter looked right at her, wondering how she managed to look so beautiful and how he hadn't ever really noticed it before.

"You look—" he realized he was speaking after he'd already spoken, and a sort-of cough interrupted his words. "You look really... pretty."

Maisie was caught off guard by the sudden compliment, but her cheeks warmed and her heart fluttered all the same. "Thanks."

She adjusted her gaze elsewhere in an attempt to disguise the blush on her face. Across the room, Tony was twirling Pepper around as she laughed, the two looking like a beautiful couple. 

"They're pretty happy together, aren't they?" she mused.

Peter smiled, "Yeah, they are."

Maisie was caught off guard as Peter twirled her around, mimicking their mentor's dance moves. The two burst out in laughter, and Maisie tried not to trip over her feet as he pulled her back in for a dip. Maisie had never much liked to dance before, but with Peter as her partner, she could do it forever.


	8. Stark's Stowaways

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Avengers: Infinity War

Maisie sat back against the seat of the bus, unenthusiastic about the school's field trip choice. There was a reason she attended a science specific school, but the staff were apparently dead set on the class visiting the Museum of Modern Art. She didn't even _get_ art, anyway.

"Stop pouting, some of the paintings are kinda pretty," Peter tried to stay positive, like always. His bright smile brought a grin to hers, as much as she tried to keep the frown on her face.

Maisie rolled her eyes, "I'm just gonna teleport out of there, maybe get McDonald's or something."

"What? No!" Peter argued. A thoughtful look came across his face, and he paused, leaning toward her with a whisper and a smirk, "Take me with you?"

Maisie laughed, shoving him toward the window; she knew she would. Maisie stopped when she didn't hear Peter's melodious laugh join hers. She turned to the boy, but he was looking out the window at something in the distance.

"What's the prob— _oh_ ," her voice broke as she finally saw the circular spaceship in the sky.

Peter reached his hand over the top of the bus seat, making contact with Ned's face and patting it repeatedly until he got his attention, "Ned, we need you to cause a distraction."

Maisie barely registered his words, staring in awe at the giant spaceship.

"We're all gonna die!" Ned yelped, jumping out of his seat and moving to the back of the bus. The other students followed him, leaving the front of the bus empty except for Maisie and Peter.

Peter worked fast, taking out his web shooters and the mask to his suit from his backpack. Maisie was a bit slower, fumbling around her own backpack for her own suit.

"Maisie!" Peter whisper-yelled.

Maisie realized she'd been too deep in thought, worried about what this massive starship could mean, and her head snapped up, "Yeah?"

"Get us over there," he looked over his shoulder one last time.

Maisie nodded, grabbing his hand. Peter squeezed once, nodding, and the two teleported into the action.

******

The two finally arrived on the scene suited up just in time to save Tony Stark from a massive alien from outer space. It looked like a freak of nature, all grey and drooling. Somehow, it still managed to look like a person with its two arms and legs, but Maisie wasn't sure what to do with something that huge. Peter leaped into action, jumping in front of the monstrosity and catching its hammer before it can deliver a blow that would definitely hurt.

"Hey, man," Peter greeted the alien, never one to be impolite. "What's up, Mr. Stark?"

Tony glanced over and saw Maisie ready to fight, and he looked back at Peter, "Where'd you guys come from?"

"Field trip to MoMA!" Peter yelled. The alien grabbed Spider-Man and threw him at a fountain a short distance away as he was speaking.

"Don't worry, Tony," Maisie sighed, watching Peter catch himself before getting hurt. "I really didn't wanna go to that dumb art museum anyway."

"What's this guy's problem, Mr. Stark?" Peter asked, firing a couple webs and getting back into the fight. He used his webs to redirect a chopped in half taxi cab and slam it down on the Big Alien Guy's head. Maisie grabbed a couple knives from her belt and twirled them around in her palms, ready to poke a bunch of holes in the invader alien guy.

"He's from space," Tony explained, jumping out of the way as the attacker swung his hammer toward him again. "He came to steal a necklace from a wizard."

"Of course he did," Maisie chirped, teleporting behind, slicing at any part of the alien she could get.

As if on cue, a man flew through the air wearing a deep red cloak.

"Kids, that's the wizard, get on it!" Tony instructed, still locked in a fight with the big alien.

"On it!" Peter replied, slinging a web in the wizard's direction.

Maisie turned to Tony, "Any more evil aliens?"

"Just the two, don't let Spidey get all the action," Tony dodged the hammer, sending repulsor energy at Big Alien Guy. "He'll need all the help he can get."

"Got it," Maisie grunted, stabbing Big Alien Guy in the back one last time before teleporting to Peter's location.

She appeared just in time to watch Peter get hit with a Rocket Mortgage billboard.

"Not cool," he mumbled, only mildly inconvenienced as he shot a couple more webs in the direction of the speeding wizard and the other alien.

"Does this other alien guy have telekinesis?" Maisie asked, teleporting every once in a while to keep up with Peter as he swung through the streets of New York.

"Yeah, looks like it," Peter grunted, finally catching up to the wizard.

Spider-Man shot his webs at the man and pulled him away from the skinny, Squidward-looking alien. Maisie thought she saw a blobfish that looked just like him on the Sci-Fi channel the week before. Before the Blobfish Alien could interfere with Spider-Man escaping with the wizard, Maisie teleported in front of him, slicing at his torso with her knives. She heard a yelp come from her partner, and while momentarily distracted, her opponent used his telekinesis to push her away and toward the street below. Mischief caught herself with her teleportation, landing on her feet and scanning the area for Spider-Man.

Her eyes found him caught in a beam of blue light headed directly for the spaceship.

" _Uh, Mr. Stark? Maisie? I'm being beamed up!_ " he called. He was too far away, still holding onto the web attached to the wizard, so Maisie only heard it over comms.

" _Hang on, kid_ ," Tony sounded like he was still fighting that other alien, and Maisie stayed on the ground, helpless.

"What do you need me to do, Peter?" she asked, her voice sounded panicked. She looked around for the Blowfish Alien and watched as he beamed himself up to his ship.

" _Anything!_ " he called, trying not to freak out.

"God, I hate heights," Maisie whispered, and she did something she knew she would regret later.

Maisie teleported onto the outside of the spaceship.

" _Maisie, tell me you did not just teleport yourself onto that ship just because Peter_ _'s up there_ _!_ " Tony's voice came through as a mix of nervousness and anger. " _If_ _he_ _jumped off a cliff—_ "

"I'd probably follow him, Tony," Maisie's voice wavered. The wind was almost too much for her to handle, and she pressed herself closer to the ship's surface. "You should know that by now."

" _Teenagers_ ," Tony mumbled. " _Give me a little juice, FRIDAY. And unlock 17-A and B._ "

Maisie watched as the wizard was pulled into the spaceship. She only got a second's glance into the interior of the ship before the web connecting Peter to the wizard was severed by the door slamming shut, locking them outside. Peter was flying in the wind for a split second before Maisie appeared next to him, grabbing him around the waist and teleporting back to the ship. Peter's hands stuck to the side of the ship instantly, ensuring he wouldn't fall. Maisie didn't have the luxury of mutated cells allowing for her to stick to every surface, so she wrapped her body around Peter as he held onto her with an iron grip so there was no chance of her falling. The two were frozen, afraid to move in fear of plummeting toward the ground below.

" _Kids, you gotta let go,_ " Tony said, a note of panic to his voice. The two teens looked to one another in shock, " _I'm gonna catch you_."

"But you said save the wizard!" Peter objected, looking for a way into the ship.

Maisie looked around, seeing Tony out of the corner of her eye. Peter's grip on her slipped somewhat, and she tightened her grip around his neck to keep holding on, pressing her head to his chest.

"I-I can't breathe—" Peter choked out, trying to keep his grip on the ship.

Maisie reacted instantly, pulling Peter's mask off so he could breathe without the obstacle. He looked at her with wide, scared eyes, "You're gonna be okay, Pete. We're just gonna let go now, okay? Tony's gonna catch us."

Peter nodded, eyes never leaving Maisie's. She hoped that Tony wasn't wrong; she really did hate heights. Maisie reached for Peter's hand on the ship and slowly peeled it off. Then, the two were free-falling.

Maisie's heart dropped to her stomach. She looked down at the ground several hundred miles below her. Nothing was there to catch her. Before Maisie could panic too much, she watched as something hit Peter in the back before growing around him. A millisecond passed before something collided with her chest. She looked down in shock and saw a suit not unlike Iron Man's grow around her. Soon, she had her own personalized suit made with the nanotech Tony had been developing. Her jaw dropped, and this time she was glad she had a mask covering her face providing oxygen when she thought she might pass out. Before she could think to save herself from the fall, Peter latched onto her side, pulling her to the ship again using his webs.

Maisie laughed in relief as Peter commented, "Mr. Stark, it smells like a new car in here!"

" _Happy trails, kids_ ," Tony said, Maisie could hear the authority in his voice as he continued. " _FRIDAY, send 'em home._ "

"Tony, I swear—" her empty threat interrupted by the parachutes in both of their suits went off, pulling them away from the ship and presumably back to the ground.

" _Oh, come on!_ " Peter yelled, obviously disappointed.

The two went flying toward open sky, and Maisie crossed her arms angrily, not happy about being excluded from the action. Suddenly, Peter yelped in surprise, gaining the girl's attention.

Peter's parachute was stuck to the side of the ship, and he was hanging off of it while Maisie safely coasted toward the ground. Her eyes widened in surprise, and a million ideas raced through her mind. The boy was going to be taken into space on the outside of the ship if she didn't act fast. Maisie reached into her new belt, relieved to see it was stocked with her knives, and pulled one out.

"Peter, hold on!" she called, wondering if he could even hear her through the comms. She was getting too far away.

Then, taking a deep breath, she cut the strings of her parachute.

Only allowing herself to free fall for a moment, Maisie teleported up to Peter, holding onto him with all her strength.

"This sucks," she mumbled, cutting the strings off Peter's parachute. Even though she couldn't see the boy's face, she knew he was terrified. "Guess we're staying, then."

The girl teleported them inside the ship, landing awkwardly so Peter fell on top of her, still clutching onto her arms like a lifeline. The nanotech making up the masks of their suits came off, and they sat staring at one another for a long moment.

"We should've stayed on the bus," Peter whispered, eyes wide.

That broke the spell, and Maisie couldn't help the nervous smile on her face, "Still better than MoMA."

Peter allowed a grin and held a hand out to help her up, "Thanks, for that, you know."

"I wouldn't let you fall," Maisie smirked. "Always such a damsel in distress."

"Only for you," Peter bowed, and she laughed. He took a look around the ship, remembering where they were. "Where do you think it's going?"

"An alien planet," the humor left her voice, and she realized just how much trouble they were in. "I better not die on a planet I wasn't born on."

"Maybe you were," Peter joked. "It'd explain a lot."

Maisie elbowed him, rolling her eyes, "Let's just go find Tony, okay?

Peter nodded in response, "Yeah, he'll know what to do."

******

"He looks like he has no idea what to do," Maisie frowned, staring down at the man from the ceiling.

"He'll figure it out!" Peter defended his mentor. "He's Tony Stark!"

Tony was staring down at the Blowfish Alien, who had the wizard locked in some kind of torture device. Blowfish Alien was talking to the wizard, making threats, Maisie assumed. Tony looked lost on how to help; there wasn't much he could do about a telekinetic alien on a spaceship without any backup. Maisie's jaw dropped as a cloak without anyone wearing it tapped Tony on the shoulder, causing him to yelp in surprise.

"Jeez, you are one seriously loyal piece of outerwear, aren't you?" the man commented, always sarcastic.

Without warning, Peter dropped down from the rafters, sending an innocent smile at Tony, "Speaking of loyalty..."

"What the—" Tony's eyes widened in shock, staring at the boy. Maisie sighed and teleported to stand next to Peter. "You too?" he asked her.

"At least it wasn't a cliff," Maisie shrugged.

"I know what you're gonna say—" Peter began, but Tony interrupted.

"You should not be here!" he lectured, shaking his head.

Maisie left Peter to argue in their defense, kneeling down by the edge of the ship Tony was on. Maybe if she teleported down there, she could grab the wizard and teleport him back up to the top of the ship to safety? But then the homicidal alien would be after them again, and that's not good for anyone. So, they had to get rid of Blowfish first, she decided.

Peter sighed, "We were gonna go home, but—"

"I don't wanna hear it," Tony shook his head.

"—but it was such a long way down, and my parachute got stuck on the side of the ship—" Peter continued.

"And now I gotta hear it!" Tony crossed his arms.

"—and these suits are ridiculously intuitive by the way, so if anything, it's actually your fault that we're here," Peter tried.

"What did you say?" Tony asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Peter, do yourself a favor and shut up," Maisie sighed, standing up to join them again.

"I take that back," Peter ignored her, looking rightfully apologetic.

"And now we're here in space," Maisie finished for him.

"Yeah, right where I didn't want you to be," Tony stared her down, an authoritative tone to his voice. Maisie frowned. "This isn't Coney Island. This isn't a field trip. It's one-way ticket. You hear me? Don't pretend like you thought this through. You could not have possibly thought this through."

"No, we did think this through—" Maisie argued.

"You could not have possibly thought this through—" Tony snapped.

"We did think this through!" Peter interrupted. Both Maisie and Tony turned to him, slightly shocked. He frowned, "Look, you can't be a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man if there's no neighborhood."

A moment passed in silence, and Maisie felt the corners of her mouth turn upward.

"Well, okay, that didn't really make any sense, but you know what I'm trying to say," Peter sighed, running a hand through his hair.

Tony took a shaky breath in, but it was obvious that there was nothing he could do now that the two were on the ship. He couldn't force Maisie to teleport them back; there was no chance of that working. They all had to deal with the decisions they made.

"Alright, fine. We've got a situation here," Tony gestured at the ledge. Peter squatted down to look over, and Maisie crossed her arms, standing beside him. "See him down there? He's in trouble. What's your plan?"

"Um... Okay, okay," Peter studied the scene in front of him, "um..."

"We can't go after the wizard without making Blowfish Alien mad, so we need to take him out first," Maisie supplied. "Once you get past the telekinesis, he's not much. I mean, he definitely doesn't look like he does cardio, you know?"

Tony stared at her.

"You're definitely right," Peter nodded seriously, staring down at the alien and the wizard. He suddenly shot up from the ground, eyes wide, "You remember that really old movie, _Aliens_?"

Maisie frowned, "That movie sucked. I'm still mad you made me watch it."

"Yeah, fine," Peter rolled his eyes, "but look! If we blow a hole in the side of the ship, everything will get sucked out."

"Yeah, and us with it!" Maisie argued, shaking her head.

Tony's eyes moved back and forth between the pair.

"Mr. Stark can fly, you can teleport, and, uh—" Peter trailed off, "I'm really sticky."

Maisie crossed her arms, thinking. "What about the wizard?"

"I'll get him," Peter shrugged. "With my webs, it should be pretty easy. If I miss, you can teleport out there and grab us."

Maisie moved to run a hand through her hair before she remembered it was in a braid, and her hand froze above her head, having nowhere to go. She balled it into a fist, putting it down by her side again as she contemplated the plan.

Finally, she turned to Peter, "If you get sucked out into space, I swear, Peter Parker—"

"I won't," Peter smiled, his usual optimism shining through her usual pessimism once again.

Maisie sighed, "Fine."

The two teens turned back to Tony, who was patiently watching them with a raised eyebrow and crossed arms, "You done?"

"Yep, so we're gonna—" Peter went to explain the plan, but Tony held up a hand.

"Pete, buddy, I was standing here the whole time. Let's go," he replied. "Masks on, if we're gonna open a hole into space."

Peter and Maisie followed his orders, waiting for the man's cue. Tony jumped down from the ledge and stood a small distance away from the Blowfish Alien. Maisie teleported closer to the scene, and Peter followed, standing beside her.

"Any one of them could end your friend's life in an instant," Blowfish Alien threatened, turning around to face Tony with a sneer.

"He kinda does look like a blowfish," Peter commented.

Maisie nodded, "Right?"

"See, I gotta tell you. He's not really my friend," Tony retorted, looking nonchalant. "Saving his life is more a professional courtesy."

"You've saved nothing," Blowfish Alien smirked. "Your powers are inconsequential to mine."

Tony shrugged again, "Yeah, but the kids have seen more movies."

Iron Man's mask went on, and he shot a hole into the side of the ship. It immediately sucked Blowfish Alien out the side, and as predicted, the wizard went with him. Maisie felt herself get pulled toward the hole in the ship, but she teleported away before she could get sucked out. She watched as Peter shot a web at the wizard, holding onto him.

Her heart stopped as the piece of the ship holding him inside broke, sending him flying toward the hole to space.

"PETER!" she yelled, ready to teleport him back.

Before he could make it through, a metal contraption emerged from his suit, latching onto the edges of the hole. Maisie could breathe again, and she could've laughed when she realized what those things looked like: spider legs.

"Yes!" Peter cheered before sounding confused. "Wait, what are those?"

He used his new spider legs to jump backward, pulling the wizard with him and back into the safety of the ship. Tony quickly sprayed nanites on the hole in the ship, closing it up instantaneously. Peter landed on his real legs and stood up, breathing a sigh of relief.

Maisie teleported next to him, smacking him on the arm, "What the hell?"

"What? I saved the wizard!" Peter tried not to laugh at the annoyed look on her face.

The flying red cloak from earlier flew by them and landed around the wizard's shoulders, looking calm for a piece of outerwear.

"We need to turn this ship around," the wizard said, speaking to Tony. 

"Yeah, now he wants to run," Tony muttered. "Great plan."

"No, I want to protect the stone," the wizard retorted.

It was then that Maisie glanced down at the necklace Tony was talking about earlier. A green light emitted from it, making her uneasy.

Tony walked to the front of the ship, "And I want you to thank me. Go ahead, I'm listening."

Peter and Maisie exchanged a look.

"For what? Nearly blasting me into space?" the wizard scoffed.

"Who just saved your magical ass?" Tony replied, the usual arrogant tone seeping into his voice. "Me!"

Maisie frowned, "Technically, it was Peter."

Tony gave her a look, "You work for me, right?"

She shrugged, "Sometimes."

"I seriously don't know how you fit your head in that helmet," the wizard mocked Tony.

"Admit it," Tony turned back to him. "You should have ducked out when I told you to. I tried to bench you, you refused."

"Unlike this girl and everyone else in your life, I don't work for you," the wizard retorted. Maisie frowned again.

"And due to that fact, we're now in a flying doughnut billions of miles away from Earth with no backup," Tony snapped, gesturing at the ship around them.

Peter spoke up, raising his hand quickly, "We're backup!"

Maisie facepalmed.

"No, you two are stowaways," Tony pointed at them, shaking his head. "The adults are talking."

"I'm sorry, I'm confused as to the relationship here—what are they, your wards?" the wizard asked, looking somewhat puzzled.

Maisie pondered the thought for a moment, deciding it wasn't necessarily untrue in her case, "A little—"

"What? No," Peter replied, stepping forward. "Er, I'm Peter, by the way."

"Doctor Strange," the wizard replied, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh! We're using our made up names," Peter's eyebrows furrowed. "I'm Spider-Man, then."

A moment passed where Doctor Strange stared at Peter in a mix of annoyance and resignation.

"I'm Maisie," she wasn't sure if she was supposed to say her name or her superhero name, so she kept going. "Uh, Mischief, I guess."

Tony had enough of the introductions, pulling the attention back to the ship, "This thing is self-correcting its course. It's on autopilot."

Instead of asking how Tony could possibly know that, Maisie simply went with it. She learned to stop asking those kind of questions during her second week of the 'internship.'

"Can we control it? Fly us home?" Doctor Strange questioned.

Maisie almost mentioned that they didn't necessarily need the ship to get back home, but she stayed silent, waiting for Tony to respond first. Tony kept quiet, slowly walking past the control center. He didn't seem keen on answering the man. Peter and Maisie shared a look; Tony had an idea.

"Stark?" Doctor Strange pressed, giving him an annoyed look.

"Yeah?" Tony looked up, like he wasn't just ignoring him.

"Tony, we can go home?" Maisie spoke up, moving closer to the man. Space was scary so far, she wasn't sure she liked it so much. 

"Yeah, Maiz," he sighed. "I'm just not sure we should."

Doctor Strange stepped forward, and Maisie had to step out of the way so he wouldn't bump into her, "Under _no_ circumstances can we take the stone to Thanos. I don't think you quite understand what's at stake here."

Peter mouthed, " _Thanos?_ " to Maisie, but she could only shake her head in response. Who the hell was Thanos?

Tony turned on him, suddenly angry, "No, it's _you_ who doesn't understand that Thanos has been inside my head for _six years_ since he sent an army to New York, and now he's _back!_ And I don't know what to do. So, I'm not so sure if it's a better plan to fight him on our turf or his but you saw what they did and what they can do," Tony shook his head again, stepping closer as if challenging the wizard. "At least on his turf, he's not expecting it. So, I say we take the fight to him, Doctor. Do you concur?"

Peter and Maisie shared a nervous look, wondering what they got themselves into. The guy behind the Battle of New York was the guy they were going to willingly seek out? It sounded like a mistake if Maisie ever heard one.

"Alright, Stark, we go to him," Strange agreed. A grim look fell upon his face, "but you have to understand... if it comes to saving you or the kids or the Time Stone, I will not hesitate to let any of you die. I can't, because the fate of the universe depends on it."

"Nice, good. Moral compass," Tony nodded, stepping away. The man turned to the teens who watched with varying levels of nervousness. He sighed and held out his arm, formally tapping both Maisie and Peter each with the blade of his hand, mimicking the act of knighting them. "Alright, kids. You're Avengers now."

Maisie stood completely still, staring ahead at the window into space. Her heart clenched with a mix of pride and utter dread at what was to come. Despite herself, a small grin crossed her face, and she turned to look at Peter, not surprised to see a look of determination.

Peter turned to her, and Maisie reached for his hand, squeezing once.

"We've got this, right?" she mumbled.

"Well, I'm not dying yet, so..." Peter said, trying to lighten the mood.

"Oh, man," Maisie's eyes widened. "Ned's probably going crazy! And MJ—"

"He's gonna love this story once we get back," Peter nudged her, sitting down on the ground and leaning his back against a part of the ship. "We should definitely take Ned something back from space."

Maisie tried to smile, but she had a horrible feeling about where they were going. Almost like they weren't coming back.

"Come on," Peter held a hand up from his spot on the ground.

Maisie took it, and he pulled her into the spot next to him. She sat down, not letting go of his hand quite yet. Near death experiences tended to pull people closer together, and after everything they'd been through, they were no exception.

After a moment of staring off into space, literally, Maisie mumbled, "We'll make it back."

Something deep in Peter's heart surged, and he hoped he could help her fulfill that promise.

"Yeah, we've got homework," he replied, sending a cheeky smile her direction.

Peter glanced at her from the side, watching as Maisie chewed on her bottom lip and wrung her hands like she did when she was anxious. He didn't even realize he was staring until he felt the fond smile settle on his face.

A sudden groaning from the ship shocked Peter from his trance. With one look, Maisie could tell that his spidey-sense was acting up, and she went on high-alert. Tony and Doctor Strange were standing by the front of the ship by some steering mechanism.

"Hey, what's going on?" Maisie asked the two men.

Doctor Strange responded, frowning, "I think we're here."

"I don't think this thing has a self-park function," Tony muttered, sidling up next to a piece of the steering mechanism. "One of you, get over here."

Peter obliged, mimicking Tony's movements, "Maiz, stay back."

Maisie resisted the urge to roll her eyes and moved to stand next to Doctor Strange, looking around for anything that could be causing them other immediate sources of danger.

"Get your hand into this steering gimbal," Tony ordered, showing him with his own hand. The device closed around his arm, and Peter followed suit. "Close those around it, you got it?"

Peter nodded, "Got it."

"This was meant for one big guy, so we gotta move at the same time," Tony continued.

"Okay, ready!" Peter replied, nodding in determination. Suddenly, his eyes widened, "Uh, we might wanna turn! Turn!"

The doughnut ship was heading straight for a large star-shaped structure, seemingly appearing out of nowhere. Maisie's eyes widened, and she closed her mask over her face. Doctor Strange used some sort of magic to create an orange, glowing shield around the four of them, anticipating a rough landing. The man was right; about a third of the bottom of the ship came off in the structure, ripping through the metal like it was cotton candy.

Peter's hand came loose from the steering mechanism, and Maisie grabbed his arm before he could fly off toward the ceiling. Unfortunately, he was stronger and heavier than the girl, and the two were thrown backward into the closest wall. Tony's arm came loose a moment later, but he latched onto the nearest piece of ship and held on for dear life. Annoyingly, Doctor Strange seemed to be coping fine with the crash landing, and his feet remained planted firmly on the ground.

Eventually, the ship came to a stop in what looked like dirt. Maisie pulled herself to her feet to look outside the front window of the spaceship and saw an orange sky, orange dirt, and an orange sun.

"Nice place, this is," Maisie commented, sarcasm flowing easily off her tongue.

Doctor Strange helped Tony up from the ground, and Tony asked, "You alright? That was close, I owe you one."

Maisie turned around to face them and saw Peter descend from the ceiling upside down on a string of webs. The girl crossed her arms and gave him a look.

"Let me just say, if aliens wind up implanting eggs in my chest or something, and I end up eating one of you, I'm sorry," Peter said, sounding heartfelt.

"Is it bad I immediately thought of like four dirty jokes I could make?" Maisie pondered aloud. Peter smirked.

Tony wasn't impressed, "I don't wanna hear another single pop culture or sexual reference out of you two for the rest of the trip, do you understand?"

"You guys, I was trying to say that something is coming," Peter interrupted, pointing behind him.

Maisie frowned, "Then why didn't you just say—"

The teenager was interrupted by a small device rolling into the middle of their group. Maisie only looked at it for a moment to decipher what it really was, and then it was too late. The small grenade let off an energy pulse, throwing the group of four in all different directions. Three people, aliens, charged onto the ship carrying their weapons and ready with a battle cry. Her mask covered her face, and she prepared to fight.

"THANOS!" the huge blue and red one yelled, throwing knives at both Doctor Strange and Maisie.

Doctor Strange blocked his with an easy flick of his wrist, using his glowing shield to catch them. Maisie's face became one of fury as she teleported out of the knife's way, letting it embed itself into the ship's wall. On the other side of the ship, Peter struggled to back away from a creepy, bug-eyed alien, and Tony grappled with a seemingly human man.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Please don't put your eggs in me!" Peter exclaimed, shooting a couple webs to incapacitate the woman alien. Tony's opponent noticed Peter's shooting and left him long enough to kick Peter in the stomach, pushing him away from the woman.

"Stay down, clown!" the man yelled, pointing a gun at Peter.

Maisie teleported in front of him, kicking the gun's aim off course. The man managed to get a shot off, and Peter ended up rolling across the floor with electrical shock cords wrapped around him. Maisie fought with the man, sending kicks and punches in every which way, teleporting out of the line of fire when he held up his gun. She teleported once more, landing on the side opposite from Peter, but to her surprise, the man stopped fighting her, instead reaching down to grab Peter in a headlock and hold a gun to his head.

Maisie looked around, seeing the huge blue and red guy from earlier with the flying red cloak wrapped around his head, incapacitating him before flying off and rejoining its master. Tony held a blaster to his head, holding him in place, and Doctor Strange held up his hands, making the glowing shield she saw earlier. The bug-eyed alien remained webbed up and out of the fight, but Maisie jumped forward and held a knife to her throat, shooting daggers with her eyes at the man holding Peter.

"Alright, everybody, chill the 'F' out!" the man holding Peter said, reaching up with his blaster arm to open up his helmet.

Maisie was slightly surprised to see her hypothesis that he was human to be confirmed, and was even more confused that she had the faintest, odd feeling that she recognized him. She gripped her hostage tighter.

"I'm gonna ask you this one time, where's Gamora?" he glared at everyone in the room.

Maisie turned her head to look at Tony, but he didn't look any less confused, "Yeah, I'll do you one better: _who's_ Gamora?"

"I'll do _you_ one better! _Why_ is Gamora?" the big blue and red guy retorted, apparently trying to be threatening. Maisie wondered what the hell was going on in that guy's head.

"Tell me where the girl is or I swear to God, I'm going to French-fry this little freak!" the man pushed his blaster closer to Peter's head.

Maisie growled, "Try it, and I'll kill you so fast you won't even see me coming."

The man's eyes flicked to the girl at her words, looking appropriately threatened. Even Peter's eyes widened, feeling chills run through his body at the thought of Maisie killing for him.

Tony's voice retorted sharply, "Yeah, let's do it! You shoot my guy, I'll blast him!"

Tony's repulsor shifted into an even bigger gun, if that were even possible, and Maisie tightened her grip on the bug-eyed alien.

"Do it, Quill," the big blue and red guy said, nodding. "I can take it!"

Maisie's eyebrows furrowed, _Quill?_

"No, he can't take it!" the bug-eyed woman yelled, struggling in Maisie's grasp.

"She's right, he can't," Doctor Strange agreed.

"Oh, yeah? You don't wanna tell me where she is? That's fine, I'll kill all four of you and beat it out of Thanos myself!" the man, Quill, spat, turning to Peter. "Starting with _you_."

Maisie's eyes widened at his words, "Wait, wait! Thanos? You wanna beat Thanos?"

Doctor Strange noticed the same thing, trying to clarify, "Let me ask you this: what master do you serve?"

Quill scoffed, "What master do I serve? What am I supposed to say, _Jesus_?"

Tony started to get it, frowning, "You're from Earth?"

"I'm not from Earth, I'm from Missouri," Quill snapped back, shocking Maisie even more. Quill, Missouri... Her eyes widened, that couldn't be a coincidence.

"That's on Earth, dipshit!" Tony almost yelled. "What are you hassling us for?"

"So, you're not with Thanos?" Peter finally spoke up, his voice quiet.

" _With_ Thanos?" Quill sounded exasperated. "No, I'm here to kill Thanos, he took my girl. Wait, who are you guys?"

Peter's mask came off, and he looked proud as he replied, "We're the Avengers, man."

"Oh," Quill replied, slowly letting Peter go.

Maisie noticed that Peter was free and let her own hostage go, unmasking herself in the process. Her gaze lingered on Quill longer than it should've, and she was confused to see that he was looking at her, too.

The bug-eyed woman alien immediately spoke up, "You're the ones Thor told us about!"

Tony rubbed a hand across his face, exasperation evident in his voice, "You know Thor?"

"Yeah, tall guy, not that good-looking, needed saving," Quill rattled off.

Peter wrinkled his nose in confusion, and Maisie scoffed and shook her head. The two teens moved to stand next to one another, still wary of the newcomers.

"We must be talking about two different 'Thor's," Maisie sighed, flipping her braid over her shoulder.

Quill shot her a look and moved to retort, but he stayed silent when he looked at her again. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion and he opened his mouth, but Doctor Strange beat him to it.

"Where is he now?" he asked.

"He went to Nivadellir, a forge in the heart of a dying star to get a weapon that can kill Thanos," Quill replied, eyes flicking back to Maisie.

"Sure, okay," Tony nodded, shrugging as if that were the most normal thing he'd heard all day. He turned to Peter and Maisie, "What do you think, kids? Wanna go see what this planet has to offer?"

"I'm not sure if we've run out of field trip jokes, Mr. Stark," Peter began, "but this really does beat the MoMA."

Maisie smiled, "Finally, he admits it."

******

As soon as she walked outside the ship, Maisie stumbled. Strong hands grabbed her around the waist to hold her steady, and she thanked Peter with a grateful smile. She got the hang of walking for a bit with the help of him remaining close by. Then, Maisie took the chance to investigate her surroundings.

All Maisie saw was orange. Orange was her least favorite color. Structures that might've once been buildings or monuments were now reduced to crumbling messes littering the planet. Peter Quill, or Starlord as he'd told everyone to call him, explained that it was called Titan, and it was Thanos' home.

Maisie kept glancing in Quill's direction, trying to convince herself that the fact that the man with the same last name from the same place as her mother was a coincidence. But the way that he looked at her, almost like he was recognizing someone he used to know, Maisie got the feeling it was something more than that.

"I know it's only been about four hours, but I really miss Earth," Peter remarked, staring at the planet in distaste.

Maisie sighed, nodding, "I won't be calm until my feet touch down on my own planet, that's for sure."

"The heck happened here?" Quill, Starlord, asked, holding a small device in his hands. "This planet's eight degrees off its axis. Gravitational pull is all over the place."

Maisie nodded in understanding, at least she knew why she kept stumbling around so much. She hoped she could get the hang of it before the inevitable fight. She turned around and saw the bug-eyed woman, Mantis, jumping up and down as though she were on a trampoline. Peter and Maisie exchanged looks, and Maisie was proud she didn't have to tell the boy not to join Mantis in jumping around the low-gravity spot.

"Yeah, we got one advantage: he's coming to us," Tony began, making it obvious he was about to start coming up with a plan of action. Maisie and Peter stepped closer, prepared to listen. "All right, I have a plan, or at least the beginnings of one. It's pretty simple. We draw him in, pin him down, get what we need. Definitely don't wanna dance with this guy. We just want the gauntlet."

The sound of yawning messed with the overall effectiveness of Tony's speech, and the man turned to look at Drax, the blue and red guy, in exasperation.

"Are you _yawning_?" he asked. "In the middle of this, while I'm breaking it down? Huh? Did you hear what I said?"

Peter looked over at Drax as though he were a student being reprimanded by their teacher. Maisie simply crossed her arms with a smirk.

"I stopped listening after you said 'we need a plan,'" Drax replied. Points for honesty.

Tony scoffed, turning to Quill, "Okay, so Mr. Clean is on his own page."

"See, 'not winging it' isn't really what they do," Quill explained.

"Uh, what is it exactly that they do?" Peter asked, pointing at the two of them. Maisie raised an eyebrow, waiting for a response.

Mantis provided one, "Kick names. Take ass."

Tony, Peter, and Maisie stood, shocked into a collective moment of silence.

Eventually, Tony spoke, shaking the dread from his mind, "Alright, Mr. Lord, would you get your folks to circle up?"

"'Mr. Lord,'" Quill scoffed. "Starlord is fine, thanks."

He motioned for the two to join up in the circle, and Tony started again, "Look, we gotta coalesce. Because if all we come at him with is a plucky attitude—"

"Dude, don't call us plucky," Quill interrupted, shaking his head. "We don't know what it means. Alright, we're optimistic, yes. I like your plan. Except it sucks, so let me do the plan, and that way it might be really good."

Peter's and Maisie's heads moved back and forth between the two like they were watching tennis. _We're doomed_ , Maisie thought.

Drax nodded, "Tell them about the dance-off to save the universe!"

"A dance-off?" Tony asked, feeling even more unprepared to fight Thanos.

"It's... uh, nothing," Quill tried to brush it off, knowing it wasn't going to do much for his credibility.

"Like in Footloose? The movie?" Peter asked, happy to interject with a movie reference whenever the time presented itself.

"Peter—" Maisie tried, exasperated and shaking her head.

"Exactly like Footloose!" Quill looked at Peter excitedly. "Is it still the best movie of all time?"

Peter and Maisie responded at the same time, incredulously, "It never was."

The two high-fived, bringing a reluctant smirk to Tony's face as he spoke up, "Don't encourage this, alright?"

"Okay," Peter agreed, but Maisie only shrugged.

"We're getting no help from Flash Gordon here," Tony referenced, and Maisie wondered if Peter's ban on pop culture references was lifted if Tony kept making them.

"Flash Gordon? By the way, that's a compliment," Quill retorted, pointing at the three of them. "Don't forget, I'm half-human, so that 50% of me that's stupid? That's 100% you."

"Your math is blowing my mind," Tony rolled his eyes.

"Excuse me," Mantis spoke up, her voice questioning. "Does your friend often do that?"

The group looked over and saw Doctor Strange sitting cross-legged, floating slightly above the ground with his hands poised in a weird gesture. Maisie and Peter exchanged a nervous glance at the man's rapid head movements and green glowing energy surrounding him and the necklace with the Time Stone. His eyes were closed, but his brows were furrowed in concentration as though he were looking for something.

"Strange?" Tony asked, moving closer. He stuck out his hands as though to calm him. "You alright?"

A second later, he fell out of his trance and landed hard back on the ground. Maisie teleported over and caught him before he could hit the ground, and he sent her a quick nod of thanks.

"Hey, what was that?" Peter asked, joining the two in front of Strange.

"I went forward in time," Strange answered, panting, "to view alternate futures. To see all the possible outcomes of the coming conflict."

A moment passed in shock, wondering when a time-traveling wizard with an infinity stone became their new normal. Probably around the time her teleportation and timeline traveling powers became normal.

"How many did you see?" Quill asked.

"Fourteen million six hundred and five," Strange responded, not looking up from the Time Stone around his neck.

Maisie felt her insides turn to lead, "How many did we win?"

When Doctor Strange moved to answer, he didn't look at her. His eyes trained on Tony, a meaningful, grim expression on his face, "One."

******

The makeshift team went over the plan several times, ensuring that everyone knew what to do. Maisie tried not to think about the fact that the fate of the entire universe was on their shoulders. They couldn't let Thanos escape. They couldn't screw it up.

Doctor Strange waited in plain sight for the titan, and the others were sent to various, calculated hiding spots to wait out Thanos' arrival. Spider-Man was watching from the ruins of what might've been a building. Iron Man waited from atop an old ship, ready to send it down on Thanos when the time came. Starlord, Mantis, and Drax remained on the ground, but Mantis was meant to stay out of the fight until Doctor Strange called upon her or Mischief appeared to grab her.

Maisie was having trouble sitting still. She appeared next to Peter, looking over the top of the building, and she took a deep breath, wringing her hands.

"Hey," Peter's nanotech mask came off for a moment, and Maisie could see his eyes. His eyebrows furrowed, a look of concern crossing his face, "Are you okay?"

Maisie nodded, gritting her teeth. Her own mask came off once she placed a confident, determined look on her face. She balled her hands into fists, "I will be."

The two locked eyes, a million thoughts and emotions ran through them. They were on a distant planet, surrounded by aliens and a wizard, and they were meant to destroy an evil titan who's hellbent on eliminating half of the universe. And, they were both only sixteen and seventeen years old.

"When we get back," Peter cleared his throat, looking more nervous than before, if that were even possible, "well, I was just wondering, er, before the spaceship and everything with all the aliens and the wizards and the other aliens I was gonna ask you... if you wanted to go to prom with me?"

Maisie stared at him, at his hopeful, beautiful, brown-eyed face. Then, she couldn't help it, she burst out laughing. Of all the things she was expecting to come out of Peter's mouth right before a life or death battle, this wasn't it. 

Peter's nervous expression shifted into one that looked as though he wished he was dead, and Maisie knew she had to speak up before he dug himself deeper into his emotional hole of despair.

"Well," she shook her head, "I don't see how anyone's going to beat 'getting asked to prom on a distant planet.'"

Peter perked up, amusement gracing his features, "Is that a yes?"

"Of course," Maisie shook her head, smiling brightly at the look of elation on the boy's face. "Now, I don't know if you remember, but there's an evil villain coming to kill us all, and we need to save the universe."

" _I'm glad one of you remembered,_ " Tony's voice crackled through the comms. Maisie and Peter froze, blushes creeping up on both of their faces. " _I was afraid I'd have to come over there and ruin that beautiful moment._ "

"I thought the comms didn't work on a different planet," Peter mumbled, barely audible.

" _My tech always works, kid_ ," Tony replied. Maisie could hear the smile on his face as he continued. " _Now get ready, both of you. Won't be much longer and I like the two of you too much for you to be caught up in your hormones when the lord of the Underworld arrives._ "

"Aw, Tony," Maisie smirked, making Peter shake his head. "I knew you loved us."

" _Get in position,_ " Tony's voice lowered, and the seriousness in his tone snapped the two kids back to reality.

Maisie and Peter leaned over the side of the building and watched as a purple man whose size rivaled the Hulk's looked around the orange planet. Instantly, the two's masks were up, and they crouched down to hide their bodies from Thanos' view. Thanos was smaller than she thought he would be, but she attributed that to the fact that he was several feet away and below the building she was hiding on. Doctor Strange spoke to him, but the teens couldn't hear, still waiting for the signal.

Maisie felt pressure on her left hand, and she turned her head to see Peter resting his hand over hers. _Avengers_ , she remembered. _They were Avengers now._ Peter nodded once, and Maisie reciprocated the movement. _Time to work for a living._

Doctor Strange's glowing shields appeared, and he stepped into a defensive stance. That was the signal. Then, all hell broke loose.

Iron Man pushed the old spaceship down hard, right on top of the titan.

" _Piece of cake, Quill,_ " Tony's voice echoed through Maisie's ears.

" _Yeah, if your goal was to piss him off!_ " Quill replied, tapping his mask. He started running, and used the blasters on his feet to jump into the air.

The spaceship on top of Thanos was destroyed in an explosion of purple light. Thanos stood, a guttural yell escaping him as he held up a golden gauntlet with four glittering stones decorating the fingers. Using the red stone, he turned the destroyed ship into several thousand flying bats and sent them barreling toward Iron Man's flying figure. Maisie guessed that the red one was the Reality Stone, then.

"Maisie, we've gotta go!" Peter called, standing atop the edge of the building.

Maisie looked up, determination flowing through her entire body. Then, Peter jumped, swinging his way toward Thanos with incredible speed.

Mischief teleported into the action just before him, swiping at Thanos' legs with her knives grasped firmly in her hands. The girl disappeared again before he could react. Thanos was hit with Spider-Man's webs and with a punch from him a second later. Drax sprinted from nowhere, using a long blade to slice at Thanos' arm. Doctor Strange stepped out from a portal, creating a baton with his glowing orange magic. Mischief appeared again, dropping into a flip and kicking Thanos in the face.

Then, Thanos peeled the webbing off his face, throwing it away as he used his other hand to punch the girl away from him. She landed several feet away, wincing at the pain. Starlord flew in as Doctor Strange was losing his one-on-one versus Thanos, and the wizard threw a couple glowing shields as stepping stones for him as he flipped over Thanos' head and stuck an electrical explosion device on his back. Starlord landed on his feet, tapped his mask so Thanos could see his face, and sent a middle finger up to the titan as he jumped backward into one of Doctor Strange's portals.

"Don't let him close his fist," Doctor Strange whispered to his cloak, and it raced toward Thanos, covering the gauntlet so he couldn't use it.

Mischief pulled herself to her feet, taking a breath, and she raced back into the action. Doctor Strange stood off from the side, creating portals from where Spider-Man jumped through, landing punches and kicks to the purple titan. She joined him without a second thought.

"Magic!" Peter exclaimed, landing a punch to his face. "More magic!" Flip kick to the stomach. "Magic with a kick!" A kick to Thanos' face. "Magic with a—"

Thanos reached up and grabbed Spider-Man by the throat, throwing him down to the ground, "Insect."

Mischief's eyes narrowed, and she teleported on top of Thanos' head. She swung down, pulling his hand away from Spider-Man's throat. He released the boy immediately, focusing on her instead.

"Technically, he's an arachnid," Maisie teleported again, down low with a slice to the kneecaps, Tonya Harding style.

She teleported around him, slicing any part of the body she could reach. Thanos cried out, though out of pain or annoyance, she wasn't sure. Spider-Man got up, and Mischief landed next to him.

"You children are no match for me," the titan growled. He ripped the cloak off the gauntlet, throwing it away.

Mischief teleported away as Spider-Man was backhanded toward Doctor Strange, sending them both flying into the hard rock surrounding the fight. Taking a breath, Maisie checked to see if Peter was alright. The two looked up as fire surrounded Thanos, courtesy of Iron Man arriving back on the scene. It didn't last long as Thanos used the infinity stones to create a vacuum of fire, sending it back in the direction it came. The two teens jumped back into the action as they watched Iron Man crash into one of Titan's ruined structures.

Spider-Man shot a web at the gauntlet, swinging around and landing on the other side in an attempt to pull it off Thanos' arm. The titan simply pulled back on the web, yanking Spider-Man to him and sending a punch to his stomach. The boy was sent flying once again, and Mischief teleported to save him from slamming his head on a rock.

It turned out to be the right decision; if she had stayed to fight Thanos instead of teleporting off to save Spider-Man's butt yet again, she would've been hit by the incoming spaceship.

Out of the wreckage came an electrical blade wielding blue alien who looked more robot than person.

"Nebula," Thanos growled.

"You should've killed me," the blue alien, Nebula, spat.

"It would've been a waste of parts!" Thanos roared.

She charged, attacking the titan with the blade, "Where's Gamora?"

Thanos didn't answer, instead throwing a punch that sent her flying into the rubble behind her.

Maisie turned to Peter, who was recalibrating after the blow to the head, "Time to go."

Doctor Strange was keeping him busy, using a different kind of magic Maisie hadn't seen before. He had ropes around Thanos' gauntlet and was pulling to keep him from closing his fist. Drax appeared again, kicking the titan in the back of the knee and forcing him to kneel. Starlord threw another electrical device, catching Thanos' other arm and pulling it away so he was completely incapacitated.

"Help get his other arm," Maisie told Peter, and she teleported back in to help.

Spider-Man used his webs, following her orders, and pulled Thanos in the direction opposite the gauntlet. Iron Man arrived next to Doctor Strange's ropes which disappeared as he tried to pull the gauntlet off of Thanos.

Spider-Man struggled holding Thanos' weight by himself, but when Mischief moved to help, the spider legs erupted from his suit, holding him in place.

Doctor Strange used his ropes again to help Spider-Man, and he looked to Mischief, "Mantis."

The girl didn't hesitate, disappearing and reappearing again to drop Mantis on Thanos' shoulders before flipping away so she wouldn't disrupt the trap they put him in. Mantis placed both hands on either side of Thanos' face, squeezing her eyes shut as she concentrated on putting the titan to sleep. After a moment, his eyes clouded over, and he stopped resisting.

"Is he under? Don't let up," Tony ordered, pulling on the gauntlet. It just wouldn't come off.

"Be quick!" Mantis groaned under the amount of strength she was using to keep Thanos down. "He's very strong..."

"McCall! Come over here, we gotta get this thing off," Tony instructed, and Maisie rushed over, helping to pull on the gauntlet.

"I thought you'd be hard to catch," Quill smirked, his mask came off as he approached Thanos. He stood smug in front of the titan, looking over at Tony, "For the record, this was my plan."

Maisie fought rolling her eyes, but she was too busy yanking on the gauntlet. Why the hell wouldn't it come off?

"Where's Gamora?" Quill demanded, glaring at Thanos.

"My Gamora..." Thanos replied, foggy from Mantis' powers.

"Oh, _bullshit_!" Quill snapped, stepping closer. "Where is she?"

"He is in anguish!" Mantis spoke up, wincing.

"Good!" Quill glared.

"Come on, come on, come on," Maisie mumbled, pulling on the gauntlet with as much force as she could muster.

"He—he mourns!" Mantis finished, tears welling in her eyes.

"What does this monster have to mourn?" Drax retorted.

"Gamora," Nebula realized. Every eye landed on her, she continued, looking down. "He took her to Vormir. He came back with the soul stone, she didn't."

Quill looked at her, astonished. He slowly turned to face Thanos, the one who killed his girl. Knowing where this was going, Tony took his mask off.

"Okay, Quill, you gotta cool it right now, you understand?" he commanded. Quill didn't look at him, only glaring at Thanos. "Don't engage, we've almost got this off!"

Maisie started pulling even harder, her muscles straining under the pressure.

"Tell me she's lying," Quill demanded. "Tell me you didn't do it!"

"I... had to," Thanos muttered, a tear leaking out of his own eye.

"No, you didn't," Quill took a step back, shaking his head. Then, he did one of the stupidest things Maisie can remember anyone doing in the history of her entire life. He started to hit Thanos. "NO, YOU DIDN'T!"

Tony let go of the gauntlet, racing forward to hold Quill back, but the damage was done. Mantis let go of Thanos' head, unable to keep up the strain of holding him under. Maisie felt something shift among the chaos, and the fingers of the gauntlet come loose.

"I-I've almost got it!" she could feel the gauntlet coming off, and hope blossomed in her chest as she saw Thanos' empty hand.

Then, he came back to reality. The titan grabbed the end of gauntlet before Mischief could pull it away, and he had the infinity stones in his grasp once again. Thanos threw Mantis over his shoulder, and Spider-Man leaped into action to catch her before she crash landed. She was unconscious before she could hit the ground. Mischief teleported away before he could even think of landing a punch on her.

Thanos threw Doctor Strange away using his ropes and swiftly kicked Drax, Starlord, and Nebula aside. Iron Man flew in with his nanotech missiles, but the titan punched them away as though they were nothing. He used the Power Stone on Drax, Starlord, and Nebula, rendering them unconscious.

Mischief appeared next to Iron Man, and the two flew into battle side by side. Iron Man constructed an electric blade, charging at Thanos, and Mischief teleported to his other side, using her knives to mess with his focus. It was obvious that the little blades did close to nothing to Thanos, but Maisie knew that if you stabbed someone enough times, they bled.

Thanos threw Iron Man to the ground again, but he didn't leave it there. In a show of strength, the titan reached up using both the Power and Space Stones and summoned one of Titan's moons.

Tony and Maisie stared up in a moment of awe at the celestial body that was starting to rain down on them. The girl reached over, teleporting the older superhero somewhere safe. The moon crash landed on the planet, disrupting the ground level, and Maisie watched in horror as Drax, Quill, and Nebula were thrown into the air with nothing to stop them. She looked at Tony, who gave her a nod of support, and she teleported away to help.

Mischief leaped into action, grabbing and teleporting Drax to safety on the ground a good distance from where Thanos was fighting Doctor Strange. Spider-Man used his webs to catch Nebula and he set her down near Drax as Mischief saved Quill, as much as she wanted to punch him for messing up the plan. Spider-Man set an unconscious Mantis next to them, gasping for air.

Maisie let her mask go down, also struggling to breathe. She had cuts just above her eye and on her cheekbone that left trails of blood down the side of her face. Her head was pounding, from pressure, adrenaline, or unrelenting fear, she wasn't sure. Probably a combination of them all. The world around her was a battlefield, it was a _war_ , and she wasn't confident she was on the winning side.

The feeling of dread she felt when she arrived was suddenly much, much worse.

"Maisie!" Peter said, grabbing onto her shoulders. His mask was down, too, and he had a wild, scared look in his eyes. "Come on, we've gotta go! We've gotta keep—"

Her hands were shaking so much she wasn't sure if they'd ever stop, "Pete, I don't know if I can—"

"You can," he interrupted, shaking his head. His heart ached at her pained face, trying to find comfort in her eyes. Peter grabbed her hands, "You're literally the strongest person I've ever met. You can do this. _We_ can do this. We have to."

Maisie's eyes flicked up to meet his, and she saw the usual look of determination. Even though she knew he was scared, Peter still faced these impossible odds with the strength to do what's right. How could one person be so brave?

Maisie knew it then, but she didn't say it. She'd regret it later, but she didn't say it. Instead, she took in the image of his face, an expression so strong amidst everything falling apart, and closed the gap between them.

The girl reached up and pulled his face to hers, kissing him with all that she had. They basked in that one moment of pure bliss amidst the chaos that they knew would just keep coming. It was short, but it was everything they needed.

Maisie pulled away, taking a shaky breath with her forehead still pressed to his, "Okay."

Peter stared at her in shock, "I-I—"

Maisie took in the sight of Peter Parker staring at her with his jaw dropped, and her lips tilted up into a sad smile. He blinked, and she was gone.

She reappeared at the scene of battle just in time to see Tony Stark get a knife shoved through his stomach.

"NO!" Maisie yelled, racing forward. She'd never been happier that Peter was far away from the action as Thanos turned to look at her.

"Mais—" Tony protested, but Thanos had already seen her.

Mischief leaped up and teleported once she was within striking distance, appearing on his other side and aiming her favorite knife toward Thanos' head. The titan stepped to the side, predicting her attack, and she landed without enough time to teleport. Thanos smirked at her, taking the knife from Tony and aiming it toward the girl's heart.

Maisie's eyes widened in fear, and her instincts kicked in. She tried to teleport away, but something happened. Thanos held up the gauntlet, and the blue Space Stone glowed. She couldn't move, caught between teleportation and her normal state. The image of her was flashing in and out, and the pain was so intense that she didn't know how to stop it. Thanos held the knife up again, ready to end the girl's life once and for all.

"Stop!" Doctor Strange called, his voice resolute. "Spare their lives, and I will give you the stone."

Thanos turned, acknowledging the wizard, "No tricks?"

Doctor Strange shook his head, giving Tony a meaningful look.

"Don't—" Tony tried. He grimaced in pain.

Thanos looked down at Maisie, who remained flashing in and out of focus as though she were a glitching computer screen, then back at Doctor Strange. Maisie squeezed her eyes shut as she couldn't manage to hold back a pained scream, and she bit down so hard on her lip she drew blood. She felt like every particle of her body was moving in all different directions, ripping her body apart. She couldn't even think, all she could feel was pain.

The wizard held out his hand, then plucked a glowing green stone out of thin air as though it'd been there the whole time. Tony watched in horror as Doctor Strange sent the Time Stone into Thanos' waiting hand. Thanos gave him a smirk, and ever so swiftly added it to his collection.

He felt the power of the Time Stone run through him, "One to go."

An energy blast hit Thanos' gauntlet, forcing him to look up at his attacker. Starlord came into view, guns blazing.

Spider-Man was close behind him, and when he saw the girl phasing in and out at Thanos' feet, he cried out, "Maisie!"

Thanos didn't wait around to fight. He used the Space Stone one last time, and he was gone.

As soon as Thanos disappeared, Maisie returned to her normal solid state, and she started to regain feeling in her body. She gasped for breath, choking on air as she tried to ignore the way that the planet was spinning in her eyes. Peter landed next to her, his mask coming off instantly as he searched for any sign of visible injury. Maisie lifted her head a half an inch to meet his eyes. Her strength had vanished, and Thanos had done it so easily. Seeing her in that way, Peter felt his heart break.

Quill de-helmeted, "Where is he?"

Tony looked down at his stab wound, wincing as he used his nanotech to seal it up. He and Strange regarded one another, but Tony looked physically sick when recalling what the wizard did to save his life.

"Did we just lose?" Quill breathed, not knowing where the Time Stone was.

Maisie sat up with Peter's help, focusing on breathing. She hadn't been that scared since the explosion at the SHIELD facility so many years ago when she first got her powers. Thanos was one second away from ending her life, until...

"Why would you do that?" Tony asked, his voice fragile.

Doctor Strange gave him a meaningful look, "We're in the endgame now."

Maisie didn't know what that meant, and judging by the look on Peter's face, he didn't either.

"Can you stand?" Peter asked, holding out a hand.

Maisie hesitated, but she leaned forward onto her feet, allowing Peter to pull her into an upright position. She stumbled, but he caught her easily, holding her up.

"What happened? One second you were there, and then..." Peter frowned.

Maisie leaned against him, resting her head on his shoulder, "I wanted us to win."

Mantis, Nebula, and Drax appeared, having finally dragged themselves to the rest of the group's location. They looked beaten, but hopeful. Upon finding Thanos gone and the state of everyone else, that look disappeared rather quickly.

"What's gonna happen now?" Maisie whispered, fear etched on her face.

Everyone heard her, they just didn't know what to say. Tony pulled himself to his feet, wincing as he did so. Peter stepped toward him to help, but when Maisie almost collapsed without his weight supporting her, he returned to his position.

A quiet voice broke the silence, "Something... is happening..."

They all turned to see Mantis turn to dust before their eyes. Quill, who'd been holding her upright, grasped at thin air. She was just... gone?

Drax's eyes widened, "Quill?"

As Quill watched, Drax turned to ash, flying away in the wind.

Peter's grip around Maisie tightened, looks of horror etched on one another's faces. She pulled herself even closer to him, if that were even possible. Peter felt the soft tickle of Maisie's hair against his cheek, the only thing grounding him in that moment.

"Steady, Quill," Tony tried, watching the man's realization at what he lost.

"Oh, man," he replied, and he was gone, too.

Maisie realized she was crying, tears involuntarily streaming down her cheeks as she waited for the inevitable. The worst thing was, she wasn't even worried about her own demise. The girl wrapped her arms around Peter's neck, and he held her close, eyes wide in shock and confusion. Is this what Thanos had done? Erased them all from existence without a trace? How were they supposed to fight this?

Maisie squeezed her eyes shut, imagining a world where they won.

"Tony," Doctor Strange spoke up behind her, "there was no other way."

She could only imagine that he dusted, too. She didn't want to look. She just wanted to pretend as if the last twenty-four hours didn't happen at all. She was still a kid; they were supposed to be on a field trip...

Maisie's muscles tensed. Her heart skipped a beat. Her hair stood up on the back of her neck. Then, she felt it.

She pulled back from Peter, almost frantic as she looked at him, "Peter, I—"

And then, Maisie McCall was gone, her last words taken from her.

Tony watched in horror as the girl disappeared, helpless to do anything about it. Maisie was _his_ responsibility. That girl was _his_ to look after, the closest thing he had to a daughter—and now she was gone, all because he couldn't get the job done. All because he had failed.

Peter felt the dust on his fingertips, his chest, his face. She was just there, and then she wasn't. Peter started to shake, feeling suffocated, and tears welled in his eyes. He shook his head, not willing to accept it. He couldn't accept it. He couldn't.

"She—Mr. Stark?" he looked over. Quiet tears had begun to fall from Peter's eyes. Tony took a step closer, noticing how close Peter was to a breakdown, as if he weren't already there. "S-She's gone, Mr. Stark. What do I do? What do we do? I don't know what to do, I just—"

Peter's eyes widened. A horrible feeling rushed through his body, and he knew he was going, too.

"Mr. Stark, I-I don't feel so good," Peter said, stumbling closer to the man.

"You're alright," Tony tried to comfort him, but his eyes looked upon Peter in terror. _Not another one_ , he thought. _God, please don't let me lose them both._

"I don't know—I don't know what's happening," Peter stuttered, looking at his hands as though they were about to disintegrate. He stepped forward, falling into Tony's arms, "I-I don't wanna go! I don't wanna go!"

He fell backward, and Tony caught him, laying him down on the ground. Peter had stopped sobbing, but silent tears still streamed down his pale cheeks. He looked upon his mentor, knowing he'd blame himself for both him and Maisie, not to mention everyone else that disappeared, too.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

Peter's dust floated away in the wind.

The man of iron sat back against the hard ground, heart aching.

The only person left was Nebula, and she spoke grimly, "He did it."

Tony sat silent, mourning, and he tried not to think about everyone still back on Earth.


End file.
